What’s in Season in Genoa

What is in season in Genoa, and what to order when the market changes.

Next up in Genoa

23 May 2027Focaccia di Recco col formaggio IGP

Spring

Torta pasqualina for Easter: The Easter pie of chard or wild greens, prescinsêua curd, marjoram and whole eggs; the old recipe calls for 33 sheets of pastry, one for each year of Christ's life.
Fave e salame on 1 May: May Day in Genoa means raw broad beans eaten with salame, often from Sant'Olcese just inland, and fresh Sardinian pecorino, at picnics and parish feasts in the hill quarters.
Anchovies from the lampare: The Ligurian anchovy season reopens in March after the winter pause, and the lampare boats fish by lamplight at night so the catch reaches fishmongers and markets the next morning.

Basil from the open fields: Basilico Genovese DOP grows under glass all year, but its rules allow open-field growing only in the warm season; Prà, in the city's west, is the best-known basil district.
Suq Festival at the Porto Antico: For about twelve days in the second half of June the Suq Festival turns Piazza delle Feste into a covered bazaar with cooks from around the Mediterranean and beyond.

Going to Suq Festival?

Hotels in Genoa, 13-24 Jun 2027

Holidufrom USD 54 a night

Castagnate in the hills: October brings chestnut feasts to Genoa's hill quarters, Apparizione among them, and to the villages of the hinterland, with roast chestnuts, wine and polenta.
Stockfish and farinata feasts: Autumn weekends bring stoccafisso cooked the Genoese way to the Giardini Luzzati in the old town and a farinata feast to Pegli, both on the city's October 2025 calendar.

Pandolce at Christmas: Genoa's Christmas sweet bread: the youngest at the table sets a sprig of olive or bay on top, the eldest cuts the first slice, and a piece is kept for the feast of San Biagio.
Cappon magro on Christmas Eve: A pyramid of seafood and vegetables on garlic-rubbed ship's biscuit, built for the Catholic fast days that include Christmas Eve, when no meat is eaten.
New olive oil: Olives for Riviera Ligure DOP oil, much of it Taggiasca, are picked from November to February and pressed within a day, so the first new oil arrives with the winter.