Maritime Alps

As the train glided along a track sandwiched between the steep cliffs of the Maritime Alps and a glistening Mediterranean sea, passing well-manicured beach resorts along the way, he was feeling hopeful.

The way the Maritime Alps meet the sea here — creating a combination of fresh game, produce, fruits and seafood — explains the raw materials with which all these local chefs work, generating little international attention, but tremendous results.

The resort is called Viola Saint Grée, in Italy’s Maritime Alps, on the border of Piedmont and Liguria.

Some years ago," he said, "I was crossing the Maritime Alps.

The morning air was exhilarating, as we began our ride along the shore, winding in and out of all the little bays, sweeping around the promontories 226 that jut into the sea, and then climbing high up on the spurs of the mountains, which here slope quite down to the coast, from which they take the name of the Maritime Alps.