I was skeptical about the palm tree on the Genoa travel poster and whether it could actually grow in a city that far north.
What I hadn’t realized is that Genoa is on the shores of Mediterranean — specifically, the Italian Riviera. This coastal region in Liguria also includes towns like Portofino and the Cinque Terre, and it has a climate warm enough to support palm trees, agaves, and sun-seeking tourists.
In fact, the Italian Riviera was already a tourist destination in 1884, when Claude Monet visited and painted scenes like the Palm Trees at Bordighera.
Now if the word “riviera” initially made you picture a river (same here), you weren’t completely wrong. The Italian word rivièra can actually refer to the shores of a river, lake, or, in this case, a sea.
Because there’s an Italian Riviera, English speakers called the Mediterranean coast on France’s side of the border the “French Riviera,” borrowing the Italian word again. Apparently, there’s also a (much) lesser-known English Riviera, which seems like a tourism-bureau invention.
And, yes, in Italy, you can just call the Italian Riviera the “Riviera.”
Photos via:
- Art Auction House Günther
- AudreyH. CCL. (Waterfront in Riva Ligure)
- trialsanderrors. CCL. (1920s poster: La Riviera Italienne)
- Regan Vercruysse. CCL. (Monet’s Palm Trees at Bordighera at the Met)
- Our Italy trip (map in the Vatican)
- Martina Pathogens. CCL. (Beach in Alassio)
- Regan Vercruysse. CCL. (Detail of Palm Trees at Bordighera)
I’ll be linking up with Thursday Tree Love at Happiness and Food.
