The Small Italian Town Focaccia Lovers Need To Visit ASAP

One of the best parts of international travel is having a chance to try regional foods. Foodies often plan their itineraries around certain eateries, looking for travel destinations known for their local cuisine. If you're looking for a unique take on a traditional tasty treat, you'll want to visit one town in Italy.

If you're a fan of focaccia (pronounced fo-KAH-cha), you may want to add a trip to Liguria, Italy, to your travel list. Liguria, specifically Camogli, is where the best focaccia can be found. Camogli is a small seaside fishing village in the northern part of the country and home to the first focacceria — a bakery specializing in focaccia on the Italian Riviera.

The focaccia made at Camogli's first focacceria, Revello Focacceria and Pasticceria, is different from most. Called Focaccia di Recco, it's unleavened, meaning no yeast is used, giving the flatbread a crispy texture. The cheese that sometimes tops traditional focaccia is stuffed inside the crust of Focaccia di Recco. It's a special creamy cheese known as stracchino made from milk from cows in neighboring Recco.

Focaccia di Recco is protected by the designation Indicazione Geografica Protetta or IGP, the Italian acronym for "Protected Geographical Indication," which means no other Italian focacceria is allowed to call their product by that name unless it uses cheese from Recco. The same holds true for Parmesan cheese from Parma, Italy, among other Italian food products. This is done in an effort to protect the heritage and integrity of products from certain regions of the country.

Focaccia di Recco is unique because traditional focaccia is not stuffed with cheese but instead gets its flavor from various toppings strewn on the surface. Traditionally, these include olives, tomatoes, herbs like rosemary or basil, and olive oil, but can also include some cheeses such as parmesan or pecorino. The dough is dimpled, making perfect little craters to hold all the savory goodness.

If a trip to Camogli isn't in your budget, making traditional focaccia at home isn't complicated. The recipe includes only a few ingredients — yeast, salt, flour, and whatever toppings your heart desires. Good-quality olive oil is just one of the toppings that you will want to use to finish your focaccia. The rest of the ingredients are up to your imagination.