A region of northwest Italy on the Ligurian Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean Sea between northwest Italy and Corsica. Named for an ancient pre-Indo-European people, the Ligurii, the region was subdued by the Romans in the 2nd century B.C. and was later (16th-19th century) controlled by Genoa. A small section of the coastline surrounding Genoa formed the Ligurian Republic from 1797 until 1815.
Ligurian Li·gu'ri·an adj. & n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
