page_title: Liguria
section_title: Prehistory and Roman times
hierarchical_section_title: Liguria / History / Prehistory and Roman times
context_page_description: Liguria is a region of north-western Italy; its capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennines mountain range and is roughly coextensive with the former territory of the Republic of Genoa. Liguria is bordered by France to the west, Piedmont to the north, and Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany to the east. It lies on the Ligurian Sea, and has a population of 1,557,533. The region is part of the Alps-Mediterranean Euroregion.
context_section_description: According to classical sources, the Ligurians (Ligures) once lived in a far broader territory than present-day Liguria. For example, the Greek colony of Massalia, modern Marseille, was recorded to lie in Ligurian territory.
  During the first Punic War, the ancient Ligurians were divided, some of them siding with Carthage, others, including the inhabitants of Stalia (later Genoa), with Rome. Under Augustus, Liguria was designated a region of Italy (Regio IX Liguria) stretching from the coast to the banks of the Po River. The great Roman roads (Aurelia and Julia Augusta on the coast, Postumia and Aemilia Scauri towards the inland) helped strengthen territorial unity and increase communication and trade. Important towns developed on the coast, of which evidence is left in the ruins of Albenga, Ventimiglia and Luni.
caption: County of Nice western part of Liguria annexed by France in 1860