The cake should be stretched and worked exclusively with the fingertips. Before baking take care to grease it with the best extra virgin olive oil that you can find, and sprinkle generously with coarse salt.

The Genoese have exported their focaccia practically all over the world, but there is a country where it has been assimilated perfectly: Argentina. Here, the Genoese immigrants in the early years of the twentieth century opened their first bakeries, and even today many of these bakeries still bear the simple name ‘Fugassa’ on their shop sign, a term of Genoese dialect which even appears in dictionaries. Going a little further back in time, you might be interested to know that during the Renaissance guests used to enjoy a piece of cake in the church at weddings. This gesture was considered a good omen: focaccia offered good luck for a happy and fruitful marriage.