Province of Imperia Province of Imperia The Province of Imperia (, ) is a mountainous and hilly province, in the Liguria region of Italy, situated between France to the north and the Ligurian Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Its capital is the city of Imperia. To the east lies the Italian province of Savona while its western edge forms part of Italy's frontier with France (the département of Alpes-Maritimes) and it shares its northern border with the Piedmontese province of Cuneo. The mountain chain to the north of the province has several peaks above , with some peaks
Ligurian (Romance language) Cavalli. Ligurian does not enjoy an official status in Italy. Hence, it is not protected by law. Historically, Genoese (the dialect spoken in the city of Genoa) is the written "koine", owing to its semi-official role as language of the Republic of Genoa, its traditional importance in trade and commerce and its vast literature. Like other regional languages in Italy, the use of Ligurian and its dialects is in rapid decline. ISTAT (the Italian central service of statistics) claims that in 2012, only 9% of the population used other than standard Italian with friends and family, which decreases to 1.8%