Where we will be

Liguria

The Italian Riviera, elegant seaside resorts, rugged mountainsides and villages nestling in rocky coves

The region of Liguria is a slender strip of land at the top of Italy's boot, curving north-westwards around the Mediterranean, stretching from Tuscany to the French border. This area is often known as the 'Italian Riviera' and its seaside resorts and elegant promenades have attracted sun-hungry northern Europeans for more than a century. The generally rocky coastline rises up to inland mountains which are increasingly steep and high towards the north-west where the Maritime Alps (reaching up to over 2,600m in height) meet the sea. This geography has created a famously mild climate benefiting both tourism and the region's renowned gardens.

Even if you've never been there, you've probably seen its northeastern border in all those movies where glamorous jet setters hop into their sports cars and motor from Monte Carlo to Rome. 
Like so much of Italy, Liguria is a land of contrasts, home to belle époque seaside resort towns in the style of Cannes and Monaco; dozens and dozens of sandy strands, rocky coves and pebbly beaches;  some of its most secluded stretches of coast, where lush forests of lemon trees, herbs, flowers, almonds and pines send forth heady sweet-smelling breezes; terraced hillsides that produce an olive oil considered more delicate than those grown in Tuscany.