The province of Imperia (Italian: provincia di Imperia; Ligurian: provinsa d'Imperia; Occitan: província d'Impèria) is a mountainous and hilly province in the Liguria region of Italy, situated between France to the north and the west, and the Ligurian Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean Sea to the south.

During the early Middle Ages until the 11th or 12th century, this part of the Ligurian coast was subject to various local lords such as the Doria and Grimaldi families and the Counts of Ventimiglia and Clavesana.

However, many historians claim that the Imperia resorts of Sanremo (also referred to incorrectly as San Remo), Bordighera and Ospedaletti (plus Alassio which is found in the adjoining province of Savona) formed the world's first 'Riviera', predating and originally outshining today's far more glitzy Côte d'Azur or French Riviera.

In the 19th century, these resorts became very popular with wealthy Europeans, especially the British who can lay claim to starting the local tourism industry.

It is claimed Britain's Queen Victoria once stayed on this coast and at one time there were large communities of resident British and Russian aristocrats who favoured the mild winter climate.

Amongst those who lived on this coast are Queen Margherita of Savoy who lived in Bordighera, Alfred Nobel who died in Sanremo, the Russian Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse), Tchaikovsky who wrote his Eugene Onegin in Sanremo, Claude Monet who painted around Bordighera and finally Grock the famed Swiss clown who died in Imperia.

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.