Liguria

Squeezed into a narrow arc between the Apennines and the Tyrrhenian Sea, and stretching from Ventimiglia near the French border down to La Spezia and Tuscany, Liguria is a beautiful region but it doesn’t have a lot of acreage for agriculture. As a result, the Ligurians have become adept at maximising the potential of their land, and they have acquired a hard-working reputation.

Ligurians are often portrayed as being a little stingy, but in my view it is the geography of the region that has shaped this attribute and encouraged them to be prudent with limited resources. Historically, they were great sailors. Christopher Columbus - perhaps the most famous sailor of all - came from Genoa, the capital of the region. This city was one of the four marine republics of Italy during the fourteenth century (the others being Pisa, Amalfi and Venice), and Ligurians ventured far and wide, connecting and trading with the rest of the world. Those that stayed at home were equally, if not more, industrious.