The Italian Travel Destination Focaccia Lovers Need To Visit

If you've visited Rome, Florence, or Venice, you know how busy Italy can be, even during the tourism off season. It's time to expand your horizons and pay a visit to an underrated destination that just so happens to be the home of some truly excellent focaccia: Camogli. This fishing village is located on Italy's northwestern coast, bordering the Ligurian Sea, just 40 minutes south of Genoa, the sixth-largest city in Italy. The colorful village of Camogli has never fully risen to prominence (although its popularity is growing amongst tourists), and it's frequently overshadowed by its Portofino and Cinque Terre neighbors. However, that just makes it an even more down-to-earth spot to visit, for now.

But what about the local bread? Although there are various theories, some historians propose that focaccia was invented somewhere in this northern region of Italy in pre-Roman times. This bread is characterized by its bubbly, oily exterior that tastes particularly great when baked with additions like rosemary, garlic, tomato, and olives. The classic focaccia to enjoy in this region is Focaccia di Recco, an extra thin and crunchy version of this bread that's typically filled with cheese, resulting in a creamy and crispy finish.

Focaccia was perhaps first introduced to Camogli by the restaurant Revello Focacceria and Pasticceria, which became a local hit in the 1900s when it started selling morning porridge in its historic oven, "da O Pallarin." The shop eventually began baking bread, but when regional laws halted the sale of bread on Sundays, shopkeepers decided to add eggs and sugar to the mix. They claimed that these additions scooched it into dessert territory, thereby creating a new take on focaccia.

Being the closest thing to bread sold on Sundays in the region, this variation caught the attention of locals and turned Revello into the first known focacceria of the region. Later it popularity further grew when it created Camogliesi al Rhum, a rum-filled, chocolate-covered puff pastry. Incredibly, this restaurant is still around today making focaccia, pizza, and other baked goods.

Before you add Camogli to your bucket list, consider learning how to make focaccia in the comfort of your own home. Just remember to keep things generous when adding oil to the bread as it betters the texture, especially for focaccia. And while you can become an expert on making focaccia from home for now, keep Camogli in mind for a future food-fueled Italian vacation (we also suggest heading a ways south for what may be the best pizza shop in the world).