Liguria

Liguria () is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and food.

Geography

Liguria borders France to the west, Piedmont to the north, and Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany to the east. It lies on the Ligurian Sea. Liguria is a narrow strip of land, enclosed between the sea and the Alps and the Apennines mountains, it is a winding arched extension from Ventimiglia to La Spezia and is one of the smallest regions in Italy. Its surface area is 5,416.03 square Kilometres, corresponding to 1.18% of the whole national surface area, with the following subdivision: 3524.08 kilometres mountain (65% of the total) and 891.95 square kilometres hill (35% of the total).

Its shape is that of a thin strip of land, from wide (respectively above Voltri and in the high mountain area around Imperia), on average about long, lying in a semicircle around the Ligurian Sea and with convexity facing north; comprised between the sea and the watershed line of the Maritime Alps and the northern Apennines, which at some points it crosses (for example in the Savona and Genoa mountains). Some mountains rise above ; the watershed line runs at an average altitude of about

The continental shelf, which is very narrow, is so steep it goes down almost immediately to considerable marine depths. The coastline is 315 km long. Except for the Portovenere and Portofino promontories, it is generally not very jagged, and is often high. At the mouths of the biggest watercourses there are small beaches, but there are no deep bays and natural harbours except for those of Genoa and La Spezia.

The ring of hills, lying immediately beyond the coast, together with the beneficial influence of the sea, account for the mild climate the whole year round (with average winter temperatures of 7-10° and summer temperatures of 23°-24°) which makes for a pleasant stay even in the heart of winter.

Rainfall can be very abundant at times; mountains very close to the coast create an orographic effect, so Genoa can see up to 2000 mm of rain in a year; other areas instead show the normal values of the Mediterranean area (500–800 mm). Despite the high population density, woods cover half of the total area. Liguria's Natural Reserves cover 12% of the entire Region, i.e. around 60,000 hectares of land, and they are made up of one National Reserve, six large parks, two smaller parks and three nature reserves.

History

(1st century AD).]]

During the first Punic War, the ancient Ligurians were divided, some of them siding with Carthage and a minority with Rome, whose allies included the future Genoese.. In the services sector, the gross value-added per worker in Liguria is 4% above the national average. This is due to the increasing diffusion of modern technologies, particularly in commerce and tourism. A good motorways network (376 km in 2000) makes communications with the border regions relatively easy. The main motorway is located along the coastline, connecting the main ports of Nice (in France), Savona, Genoa and La Spezia. The number of passenger cars per 1000 inhabitants (524 in 2001) is below the national average (584). In average, about 17 million tones of cargo are shipped from the main ports of the region and about 57 million tonnes enter the region . The Port of Genoa, with a trade volume of 58.6 million tonnes The main destinations for the cargo-passenger traffic are Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Barcelona and Canary Islands.

Government and politics

The politics of Liguria takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of Regional Government is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Regional Government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Regional Council. The Regional Government is presided by the Governor, who is elected for a five-year term, and is composed by the President and the Ministers , who are currently 11, including a Vice President. The Regional Council of is composed of 40 members and it's elected for a five-year term, but, if the President suffers a vote of no confidence, resigns or dies, under the simul stabunt vel simul cadent prevision (introduced in 1999), also the Council will be dissolved and there will be a fresh election. In the last regional election, which took place on 28–29 March 2010, incumbent Claudio Burlando (Democratic Party) defeated Sandro Biasotti (an independent close to The People of Freedom). At both national and local level Liguria is considered a swing region, where no one of the two coalition is dominant.

Administrative divisions

{| class="wikitable centered" border="1" |- ! style="background:#CCCCFF"|Province ! style="background:#CCCCFF"|Area (km²) ! style="background:#CCCCFF"|Population ! style="background:#CCCCFF"|Density (inh./km²) |- | Province of Genoa | 1,838 | 884,945 | 481.5 |- | Province of Imperia | 1,156 | 220,217 | 190.5 |- | Province of La Spezia | 881 | 222,602 | 252.7 |- | Province of Savona | 1,545 | 265,194 | 185.2 |}

Gallery

Famous Ligurians

References

External links

Category:Regions of Italy Category:NUTS 2 statistical regions of the European Union Category:Wine regions of Italy