Good eating and drinking in Val di Vara and in the Cinque Terre: typical products

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If you are not a gourmet, you will become it. The oenogastronomy of Val di Vara and Cinque Terre is indeed quite extraordinary.

Wines, first of all: the local wine undertakings (in Bolano, Calice al Cornoviglio, Riccò del Golfo) are numerous and all of very high quality; you can't go in the Cinque Terre, then, without tasting the famous Sciacchetrà, delight envied by half world.The Cinque Terre vineyards are indigenous to this zone: in fact, the first viticulturers came from Corvara and Bracelli. One of the most famous “DOC” wine producers is Busoni, in Ortonovo, close the Luni hills. You’ll find excellent “DOC” wine in Beverino, while it would be a pity not tasting Vermentino and Albarola.

For what concerns cooking delights, you have only to choose among the wide range of delicacies: salted meats, genuine cheeses, delicious sweets, high quality honey produced by the local bee-keepers.The produce of the land, as vegetables and agricultural products, has given origine to the most renowned "Polenta e coi" (Polenta and Cabbages from Beverino),that, together with other specialties (stockfish with beans, home-made thin noodles with “pesto”, the famous Genoan sauce, or the "Castagnasso", etc…) constitute the story of the Val di Vara gastronomy. In the Cinque Terre, in Monterosso are concentrated some bakeries speciallized in cooking the famous “Focaccia di Recco” and other local titbits. Besides, the trait d’union between fine eating and culture will be found by visiting the Honey Museum in the Calice al Cornoviglio castle.