: The region’s survival story is also told through its food. In its capital, Genoa , the world-famous pesto alla Genovese was born, using the fragrant basil that thrives in the salty sea air. Share Your Italian Story: “Italy Chose Me”

: This rugged, colorful coast is the setting for the story of Portorosso , the fictional village in the film Luca . While Portorosso isn't real, it was directly inspired by the real-life charm of Cinque Terre , where colorful houses cling to cliffs and life revolves around the sea.

Italy is a collection of 20 distinct regions, each functioning like a small country with its own dialect, culinary traditions, and history. The Story of Liguria: The Land of the Five Lands

: Long ago, five small fishing villages—Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore—were so isolated by steep cliffs and the sea that they could only be reached by boat or arduous mule tracks. To survive, generations of Ligurians carved thousands of miles of dry-stone walls into the vertical hillsides to grow grapes and olives, essentially "building" the landscape by hand.

One of the most evocative stories is found in , a narrow, crescent-shaped region in northwest Italy known as the "Italian Riviera".