(or Riviera of Flowers). It takes this name from the exotic flora and important flower-growing industry centred on the Sanremo and Ventimiglia flower markets. There are several ports and marinas along the coast including Sanremo and Imperia, although fishing boats have given way to pleasure craft of the rich. Tourism is still very important today, but apart from flower growing, olive cultivation and oil pressing are important mainstays around the city of Imperia. Sanremo is the tourist capital and chic-est and largest resort on this coast. As well as a Casino, Sanremo is home to the Sanremo Music Festival, a TV event in Italy. Bordighera supplies palms to the Vatican for Palm Sunday. As well as sharing a common history, the local Ligurian language dialect of Imperia province is a mix of French and Italian, the architecture and cuisine also show many Italianate similarities. Pasta, fish, seafood, game, vegetables, herbs, nuts and fruit are all mainstays of the diet. Menton in France and Ventimiglia in Italy claim to be the first international joint-community. This coast even has its own princely version of the French Riviera's Principality of Monaco: Seborga near Ospedaletti claims an unrecognised and much-humoured independence from Italy dating back to those early feudal days. Although there are few examples of Renaissance or Baroque architecture in this part of Italy, most coastal towns and many hill-top villages still exhibit picturesque old quarters dating from the Middle Ages. There has been much development during the 20th century. In general the coastal strip has become over-populated while inland villages are steadily becoming depopulated. Largest municipalities (by population) This is a list of the ten most populous municipalities as of 31 December 2010: References External links Official website Imperia