Riviera, region, southern Europe, consisting of a narrow coastal strip that extends along the Mediterranean Sea from Hyères, Var Department, France, to La Spezia, Liguria region, Italy. The area is famed as a winter resort. Communities on the French Riviera, also popularly called the Côte d'Azur (Azure Coast), include Saint Tropez, Antibes, Cannes, Nice, Menton, and Monte Carlo (in the principality of Monaco). Nice and Menton are connected by three scenic highways, running one above the other, along the sheer cliffs of the Maritime Alps. The Italian Riviera is divided into the Riviera di Ponente (Coast of the Setting Sun), extending west from Genoa, and the Riviera di Levante (Coast of the Rising Sun), east of Genoa. Other noted communities on the Italian Riviera are Ventimiglia, San Remo, Portofino, Santa Margherita Ligure, and Rapallo. Protected from the cold winds of the north and east by the Maritime Alps, the Apennines, and the Ligurian Alps, the Riviera has a mild climate, resulting in the growth of such tropical fruits as the pomegranate, banana, and date and such trees as the palm.