Buongiorno a tutti,
I’m back in Rome after a whirlwind couple of weeks of travel up north in Piedmont and across to Liguria and bursting with exciting things to tell you. In this newsletter, I’ll share with you some highlights of our time in Genoa and then in the next one, I’ll let you in on what we got up to in Torino and the Langhe wine region. And then, I also want to share with you the amazing food tour we went on in Testaccio, and perhaps the coolest experience of all - a Vespa side car tour in Rome!
Wonderful Genoa
The real highlight for me was exploring incredible Genoa for the first time! Have you been before? It’s a vibrant port city with a fascinating history as one of the great maritime republics in a time bygone. The old town is like a maze of narrow streets filled with countless historical food shops and impressive medieval palazzi.
We stayed at the glamorous old-school hotel Bristol Palace which I highly recommend for its comfortable rooms and superb location. It’s out of the old town but about a 5 minute walk to reach it which is perfect. The old town can get a little sketchy at nighttime and a bit deserted, so I’d recommend staying in the newer part of town.
We met up with our friend Enrica from A Small Kitchen in Genoa and went on a wonderful food walking tour with her! She took us to some of the most incredible historic sweet shops where we tried old-school colored candies that burst in your mouth with flavors of rose, fennel, aniseed lemon and more depending on the color! And my new obsession is candied fennel seeds and candied cinnamon. Delicious.
Another wonderful food discovery was the traditional Genovese ice-cream. It’s basically a semifreddo coffee cream and probably one of the best things I’ve ever eaten!
Of course, we also munched on piping hot focaccia glistening with olive oil, and tried fresh pesto. I had such a wonderful time, that I was inspired to write a new blog post all about gorgeous Genoa and what to do on your trip there.
Enrica was such a wonderful host and all her food recommendations were superb. She’s just released her very first cookbook all about traditional Ligurian recipes in case you’d like to learn more about Ligurian food.
Besides all the yummy Ligurian food, we also discovered perhaps the coolest homewares/interior store ever set inside a noble palazzo. We also took a cab out to the Genoese suburb Boccadese which is like a mini Cinque Terre town and super cute!
On our last day, we had a little time to kill before taking the train to Rome, so we jumped on a short 20 min ride to Nervi. What a delight! The town is right on the coast and full of Liguria’s signature pastel-colored houses hugging the shoreline.
Being March, we basically had the place to ourselves and enjoyed a little stroll and one of the best lunches at Bistrot del Porticciolo.
Inspired to visit? We’ve collaborated with Enrica and are running small group, multiday tours to Genoa and the rest of Liguria! Our first tour is this October 2023 and we still have spots available in case you’d like to join. We’re also running tours next April and October. If you’re interested, reply to this email and I’ll send you the itinerary.
That’s it for now! Wishing you a wonderful rest of your week.
Liv xo