Ligurian focaccia (focaccia genovese): the original style

Ligurian focaccia, usually called focaccia genovese and known in the Ligurian language as fugassa, is a fairly thin, soft, oil-rich bread from the Genoa area of northwest Italy, dimpled by hand and dressed with a brine of water, olive oil and salt before it goes in the oven. It is the style many people mean when they say focaccia is Italian, and it is the region that gave a San Francisco bakery its name. This guide explains how Ligurian focaccia is made, how it is eaten, how it compares with the thicker American bakery version and which other Ligurian breads belong beside it.

What is Ligurian focaccia?

Ligurian focaccia is a leavened, olive-oil-rich flatbread from the coast around Genoa, usually about a finger thick, soft inside and shiny on top. It is the best-known of several Ligurian baked specialties, and in many Italian cities a bakery will sell a version of it labeled genovese.

Liguria is a narrow crescent of coast in northwest Italy running from the French border toward Tuscany, with Genoa as its main city. The region is known for olive oil, basil and seafood, and its bakeries have long been associated with flat breads baked in large trays. The details of the bread differ from town to town and from baker to baker, and any claim of one authentic recipe should be treated with care.

Why is it called fugassa and focaccia genovese?

Fugassa is the Ligurian-language form of the word focaccia, and genovese simply means from Genoa. Both words come from the same root as focaccia in standard Italian, which is generally traced to a Latin term for hearth bread.

In everyday speech Italians outside the region just say focaccia, and a menu that adds genovese is signaling the thin, oiled, brined style rather than a thicker bread or a pizza-like one.

How is focaccia genovese made?

It is made from a soft, wet yeast dough enriched with olive oil, stretched into an oiled tray, dimpled with fingertips, covered with a brine and baked until golden. The method is simple, but the ratios and the rest times decide whether it comes out light or heavy.

The usual outline, in words and without exact numbers:

1. Mix flour, water, yeast, salt and olive oil into a soft, sticky dough.
2. Let it rise, often in stages, so the flavor develops and the dough relaxes.
3. Stretch it into a well-oiled pan, rest it again, then press dimples across the surface.
4. Pour or brush on the brine, a mix of water, olive oil and salt, and add coarse salt if desired.
5. Bake in a hot oven until the top is golden and the underside is crisp.

The brine is the signature step. It pools in the dimples, seasons the bread and helps give the surface its shine. Some home cooks keep the dough especially wet, which makes it harder to handle and gives the open crumb.

What does Ligurian focaccia taste like?

It tastes salty, oily and lightly sweet from the wheat, with a soft, springy inside and a crust that is only gently crisp. The effect is richer than ordinary bread and plainer than pizza.

Because the toppings are minimal, the oil and the salt are tasted directly. A fruity, peppery olive oil comes through. Poor oil tastes flat. The crumb is moist and slightly chewy rather than fluffy, and the bottom is often fried and golden from the oil in the tray. Some bakers add rosemary, onion or olives, but the plain version is the reference point.

What is Ligurian focaccia not?

It is not pizza, and it is not the cheese-filled focaccia di Recco. It does not usually carry a layer of sauce or a heap of toppings, and it is not a thick, sandwich-style loaf.

Mixing these up causes most of the confusion on menus. A bakery that sells focaccia genovese is selling the single, leavened, dimpled bread. A bakery that sells focaccia di Recco is selling a thin cheese pie made of unleavened dough. A shop that sells pizza al taglio is selling a rectangular, sauced tray bread. Each is a sibling of the others, and each has a fan base.

How is Ligurian focaccia traditionally eaten?

Traditionally it is a breakfast and snack bread, eaten in squares or strips from paper, and in Genoa it is commonly said to be dipped in cappuccino or milky coffee. It is also eaten at any time of day as street food.

It is also split and filled in many places, though a Genoese baker might argue that the bread is complete without anything added. Other classic pairings include salty cured meats, soft cheeses and fresh vegetables.

How does Ligurian focaccia differ from American bakery focaccia?

Ligurian focaccia is generally thinner, wetter in the dough and finished with a brine, while American bakery focaccia is often thicker, more bread-like and sold in toppings-heavy squares. These are differences of tendency, not a strict divide, since many American bakers follow Italian methods closely.

These are general descriptions and are not claims about any one bakery. For Liguria Bakery, sources describe a focaccia-only bakery selling flavors such as rosemary garlic, black olive, mushroom, jalapeno cheese, pizza and raisin, and none of them says whether the bread follows the Genoese method.

What oil and salt does Ligurian focaccia call for?

The traditional choice is a good olive oil and a coarse salt, because both are tasted directly. Sources on the style stress oil more than any other ingredient, and Liguria is itself an olive-growing region.

A mild, fruity oil gives a rounder flavor and a more peppery oil gives a sharper one. Neither is wrong, and both work in the dough and in the brine. For salt, coarse sea salt sprinkled on top gives bursts of salinity against the soft crumb, while fine salt dissolves into the brine and seasons evenly. Many bakers use both: fine salt in the dough, coarse salt on the surface. The pantry guides on olive oil and flaky sea salt on this site go into the choices in more detail.

What other breads come from Liguria?

Liguria has several well-known baked specialties beyond focaccia genovese, and they are often sold side by side in a Ligurian bakery. The table gives a general picture of the ones most often named.

Focaccia di Recco holds protected geographical indication status in the European Union, as commonly reported. Farinata is also eaten in neighboring regions under other names, and sardenaira has a similar relationship to the pissaladière of southern France, so it is best to treat these breads as family members rather than as isolated inventions.

Where does Liguria Bakery in San Francisco fit in?

Liguria Bakery in San Francisco takes its name from the Liguria region, and its founder is reported to have come from there. Tasting Table and Wikipedia both date the bakery to 1911 and name founder Ambrogio (also spelled Ambrosio) Soracco, who came from the Liguria region of Italy. Sources disagree on when he emigrated and on whether the bakery moved to focaccia only in 1950 or 1984.

Today it sells only focaccia. Its menu as recorded in November 2026 includes Pizza focaccia, Rosemary garlic focaccia, Black olive focaccia, Mushroom focaccia, Jalapeno cheese focaccia and Raisin focaccia from Tasting Table (March 2026), plus Plain focaccia and Green onion focaccia from older sources that need confirming. No source describes the dough or the method.

Practical details are on the hours and location page and the menu page. Tasting Table reports cash only and says the bakery often sells out before 10 AM.

How can you taste a Ligurian focaccia at home?

You can approximate it by baking a wet, oily dough in a tray, dimpling it and finishing it with a water, oil and salt brine. A good olive oil and coarse salt do more than any extra ingredient.

A few things help:

• Use a pan large enough to let the dough spread thinly, with enough oil to coat the bottom.
• Dimple firmly so the brine collects in the holes.
• Give the dough time to rest and rise, because rushed dough tastes plain.
• Serve it the same day, warm or at room temperature.

Check the baking tools and pantry guides on this site for what to look for in a pan, oil and salt.

Common questions

This article is general information from an independent guide, not from Liguria Bakery itself. For the store’s current details see hours and location.