Understand
Venice, Rome, Florence are of course the most known and admired towns in Italy. When moving to north-western Italy (Milan, Turin) it is nevertheless absolutely worth staying for a couple of days or a weekend in Genoa.
Get in
By plane
The Aeroporto di Genova - Cristoforo Colombo provides several daily flights from other major European cities such as Rome, Amsterdam, London, Munich, and Paris. From the airport it is fairly easy to rent a car or take a shuttle (bus no. 100, also called Volabus) to the city center.
By train
Genoa can be easy travelled to by train from Milan, Turin, Rome, Tuscany (Pisa, Livorno and Florence (changing train in Pisa or Viareggio)) and France (There is a direct train connecting with Nice).
By car
Coming from Milan you can reach Genoa via the A7-E62 (approx. 145 km). Mind though that the last part, from Serravalle to Genoa, is incredibly twisty, making you wonder if you’re still on the highway or accidentally have taken a wrong turn into a motordrome. It’s therefore advisable to take an alternative route, turning off the A7 at the deviation near Tortona and heading on the A26/A7, following Genova, Ventimiglia, Savona, Voltri; making it a longer (+20 km), but certainly safer and more comfortable trip, unless you want to spice up you journey and observe how (some) Italians drive. The same highway is less twisty northbound.
Coming from Turin you can either take the A6/E717 to Savona (137 km) and then go to Genoa following the beautiful, but twisty A10 coast highway (an other 45 km) or follow the Genova Piacenza indications you'll find on the ringroad heading south. This latter is the shorter alternative (170 km total), but offers fewer sightseeing opportunities.
Coming from the French Riviera just follow the highway A10 and enjoy the sight (approx 160 km from the French border).
Coming from Tuscany you can take the A12 from Rosignano to Genoa; mind that you must have snow chains on board between the gates of Carrodano and Sestri Levante when travelling from November 1st to March 31st, even though snow is seldom a problem here.
By bus
Genoa can be reached via Eurolines coach from many European countries.
By boat
Genoa is an important port, and has many ferry services. Grandi Navi Veloci crosses from Barcelona weekly, and takes about eighteen hours. It also offers a weekly crossing to Tangiers, which takes around forty-six.
Get around
There regular buses servicing the whole city, but the timetables one can see at stops are not always reliable. In addition to this there is a short tube railway connecting the city center with the peripheral district of Rivarolo. With the tube connection is also possible to cross the medieval center which usually has too narrow streets (called 'caruggi') for cars or busses.
Trains travel through the whole city in the east/west direction; this is probably the best way to travel if you plan to see some peripheral districts on the coastline, as no bus travels for the whole width of the city.
The historical center is serviced by bus only around some important squares and streets (Piazza Acquaverde for Stazione di Piazza Principe, Piazza della Nunziata, Largo Zecca, Piazza Corvetto, Piazza Caricamento); caruggi are best seen on foot.
See
Museums:
Genoa is known to have Europe’s biggest historical center. This is the heart of the old city. It’s made up of an incredible amount of tiny streets and alleys called Caruggi. Walking through it will plump you right back in ancient times when Genoa was the most important harbor of the Mediterranean sea. The city is generally safe, but caution is to be applied, especially at night time and in the more quiet zones toward Piazza Principe and the old harbor, due to presence of small criminality.
Eat
The vast majority of places charges service for a fixed amount per person (called 'coperto'), as is custom in Italy.
Budget
Mid-range
Splurge
Drink
Sleep
Budget
An agency that rents local bed & breakfast accommodations in Genoa. They also rent accommodations in the surrounding area and short-let apartments. Reservations through their website: Columbus Village
Mid-range
Splurge
Cope
It is not difficult to find someone who can help you with easy/touristic problems in English, Spanish or French, but the best is of course to speak a little bit of Italian.
Get out
Genoa makes a good base to explore Cinque Terre, La Spezia, or Chiavari.
Genoa (Genova 'dʒɛːnova in Italian—Zena 'zeːna in Genoese) is a city and a seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of ca. 620,000 and the urban area has a population of ca. 890,000. Genua was a city of the ancient Ligurians. Its name is probably Ligurian, meaning "knee" (from Ancient Greek gony "knee"), i.e. "angle", from its geographical position, thus akin to the name of Geneva.
Flag
The flag of Genoa is the St. George's flag, a red cross on a lime white field, almost identical to the Flag of England. Some people claim that the flag of Genoa was adopted by England and the City of London in 1190 so their ships entering the Mediterranean would benefit from the protection of the powerful Genoese fleet. However, historians agree that the actual origins of the flag are unclear (Encyclopedia Britannica).
History
Ancient era and early Middle Ages
Genoa's history goes back to ancient times. The first historically known inhabitants of the area are the Ligures, an Italic tribe. The attribution of its foundation to Celts in 2500–2000 BC has been recently recognized as wrong.
A city cemetery, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, testifies to the occupation of the site by the Greeks, but the fine harbor probably was in use much earlier, perhaps by the Etruscans. It is also probable that the Phoenicians had bases in Genoa, or in the nearby area, since an inscription with an alphabet similar to that used in Tyre has been found .
In the Roman era, Genoa was overshadowed by the powerful Marseille and Vada Sabatia, near modern Savona. Different from other Ligures and Celt settlements of the area, it was allied to Rome through a foedus aequum ("Equal pact") in the course of the Second Punic War. It was therefore destroyed by the Carthaginians in 209 BC. The town was rebuilt and, after the end of the Carthaginian Wars, received municipal rights. The original castrum thenceforth expanded towards the current areas of Santa Maria di Castello and the San Lorenzo promontory. Genoese trades included skins, wood, and honey. Goods were shipped in the mainland up to important cities like Tortona and Piacenza.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Genoa was occupied by the Ostrogoths. After the Gothic War, the Byzantines made it the seat of their vicar. The Lombards submitted it in 643. In 773 the Lombard Kingdom was annexed by the Frank empire; the first Carolingian count of Genoa was Ademarus, who was given the title praefectus civitatis Genuensis. Ademarus died in Corsica while fighting against the Saracens In this period the Roman walls, destroyed by the Lombards, were rebuilt and extended.
For the following several centuries, Genoa was little more than a small, obscure fishing center, slowly building its merchant fleet which was to become the leading commercial carrier of the Mediterranean Sea. The town was sacked and burned in 934 by Arab pirates but it was quickly rebuilt.
In the 10th century the city, now part of the Marca Januensis ("Genoese Mark") was under the Obertenghi family, whose first member was Obertus I. Genoa was one of the first cities in Italy to have some citizenship rights granted by local feudataries.
Middle Ages and Renaissance
Before 1100, Genoa emerged as an independent city-state, one of a number of Italian city-states during this period. Nominally, the Holy Roman Emperor was overlord and the Bishop of Genoa was president of the city; however, actual power was wielded by a number of "consuls" annually elected by popular assembly. Genoa was one of the so-called "Maritime Republics" (Repubbliche Marinare), along with Venice, Pisa, and Amalfi) and trade, shipbuilding and banking helped support one of the largest and most powerful navies in the Mediterranean.The Nuccio family, Adorno family, Campofregoso family, and other smaller merchant families all fought for power in this Republic, As the power of the consuls allowed each family faction to gain wealth and power in the city. The Republic of Genoa extended over modern Liguria and Piedmont, Sardinia, Corsica and had practically complete control of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Through Genoese participation on the Crusades, colonies were established in the Middle East, in the Aegean, in Sicily and Northern Africa. Genoese Crusaders brought home a green glass goblet from the Levant, which Genoese long regarded as the Holy Grail.
The collapse of the Crusader States was offset by Genoa’s alliance with the Byzantine Empire, which opened opportunities of expansion into the Black Sea and Crimea. Internal feuds between the powerful families, the Grimaldi and Fieschi, the Doria, Spinola, and others caused much disruption, but in general the republic was run much as a business affair. Genoa's political zenith came with its victory over the Duchy of Pisa at the naval Battle of Meloria (1284), and its persistent rival, Venice, in 1298.
However, this prosperity did not last. The Black Death was imported into Europe in 1349 from the Genoese trading post at Caffa (Theodosia) in Crimea, on the Black Sea. Following the economic and population collapse, Genoa adopted the Venetian model of government, and was presided over by a doge (see Doge of Genoa). The wars with Venice continued, and the War of Chioggia (1378–1381), ended with a victory for Venice. After a period of French domination from 1394–1409, Genoa came under rule by the Visconti of Milan. Genoa lost Sardinia to Aragon, Corsica to internal revolt and its Middle Eastern colonies to the Ottoman Empire and the Arabs.
Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa, donated one-tenth of his income from the discovery of the Americas for Spain to the Bank of San Giorgio in Genoa for the relief of taxation on foods. The Spanish connection was reinforced by Andrea Doria, who established a new constitution in 1528, making Genoa a satellite of the Spanish Empire. Under the ensuing economic recovery, many Genoese families amassed tremendous fortunes. At the time of Genoa’s peak in the 16th century, the city attracted many artists, including Rubens, Caravaggio and Van Dyck. The famed architect Galeazzo Alessi (1512–1572) designed many of the city’s splendid palazzi. A number of Genoese Baroque and Rococo artists settled elsewhere and a number of local artists became prominent.
Genoa suffered from French bombardment in 1684, and was occupied by Austria in 1746 during the War of the Austrian Succession. In 1768, Genoa was forced to also cede Corsica to France.
Later history
With the shift in world economy and trade routes to the New World and away from the Mediterranean, Genoa's political and economic power went into steady decline.
In 1797, under pressure from Napoleon, Genoa became a French protectorate called the Ligurian Republic, which was annexed by France in 1805. This affair is commemorated in the famous first sentence of Tolstoy's War and Peace:
"Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes.(...) And what do you think of this latest comedy, the coronation at Milan, the comedy of the people of Genoa and Lucca laying their petitions before Monsieur Buonaparte, and Monsieur Buonaparte sitting on a throne and granting the petitions of the nations?" (spoken by a throughly anti-Boanapartist Russian aristocrat, soon after the news reached St. Petersburg).
Although the Genoese revolted against France in 1814 and liberated the city on their own, delegates at the Congress of Vienna sanctioned its incorporation into Piedmont (Kingdom of Sardinia), thus ending the three century old struggle by the House of Savoy to acquire the city. The king of Piedmont even sent the Bersaglieri to sack the city, defining the Genoese as "scum". The city soon gained a reputation as a hotbed of anti-Savoy republican agitation, although the union with Savoy was economically very beneficial. With the growth of the Risorgimento movement, the Genoese turned their struggles from Giuseppe Mazzini's vision of a local republic into a struggle for a unified Italy under a liberalized Savoy monarchy. In 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi set out from Genoa with over a thousand volunteers to begin the campaign. This is called the departure of the thousands and a monument is set on the rock where the group departed from.
In World War II the British fleet bombarded Genoa and one bomb fell into the cathedral of San Lorenzo without exploding. It is now available to public viewing on the cathedral premises.
The 27th G8 summit in the city, in July 2001, was overshadowed by violent protests, with one protester, Carlo Giuliani, killed amid accusations of police brutality. Trials of accused officials are ongoing as of 2007.
Main sights
:''For a more extensive list, see :category:Buildings and structures in Genoa|Buildings and structures in Genoa.
The main features of central Genoa include Piazza de Ferrari, around which are sited the Opera and the Palace of the Doges. There is also a house where Christopher Columbus is said to have been born.
Strada Nuova (now Via Garibaldi), in the old city, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006. This district was designed in the mid-16th century to accommodate Mannerist palaces of the city's most eminent families, including Palazzo Rosso (now a museum), Palazzo Bianco, Palazzo Grimaldi and Palazzo Reale. The famous art college, Musei di Strada Nuova and the Palazzo del Principe are also located on this street.
Other landmarks of the city include St. Lawrence Cathedral (Cattedrale di San Lorenzo), the Old Harbor (Porto Antico), transformed into a mall by architect Renzo Piano, and the famous cemetery of Staglieno, renowned for its monuments and statues. The Museo d'Arte Orientale has one of the largest collections of Oriental art in Europe.
Other than the old city sights, Genoa also has a large aquarium located in the above-mentioned old harbor. The port of Genoa also contains an ancient lighthouse, called La Lanterna (i.e., "the lantern"). It is the oldest working lighthouse in the world, one of the five tallest ones, and the tallest brick one and it is Genoa's landmark.
One of the most beautiful and pictoresque genoese neighbourhood is Boccadasse on the east of the city.
Famous people
Famous Genoese include Sinibaldo and Ottobuono Fieschi (Popes Innocent IV and Adrian V) and Pope Benedict XV, navigators Christopher Columbus and Andrea Doria, composers Niccolò Paganini and Michele Novaro, astronaut Franco Malerba, painter Domenico Piola, Italian patriots Giuseppe Mazzini and Nino Bixio, writer and translator Fernanda Pivano, poet Edoardo Sanguineti, communist politician Palmiro Togliatti, architect Renzo Piano, Physics 2002 Nobel Prize winner Riccardo Giacconi, Literature 1975 Nobel Prize winner Eugenio Montale, artists Guido Galletti and Vanessa Beecroft, comedians Gilberto Govi, Paolo Villaggio, Beppe Grillo, Luca Bizzarri, Paolo Kessisoglu, Maurizio Crozza; singer-songwriters Fabrizio de André and Ivano Fossati, actor Vittorio Gassman, and actress Moana Pozzi. Some reports say Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) is also from there, other ones say he was from Savona.
Demographics
The population is homogeneously Italian. Southern and northern Italians alike flocked to the city during the late 1900s. An estimated 95.3% of the population is of Italian origin. But there has been a sharp increase of immigrants mostly from South America, Eastern Europe, and a very meagre number from Asia.
Immigrants by country (2004):
Miscellaneous
Sister cities
See also
Image gallery
Image:Genoa_towers.jpg|Porta Soprana
Image:Genoa_alley.jpg|Narrow and tall alleyways are common in Genoa
Image:Lanterna di Genova.jpg|La Lanterna
Image:Genoa_sunset.jpg|Sunset over harbor with large ships.
Image:Genova-Palazzo Ducale da Piazza Matteotti.jpg|Ducal Palace
Image:Genova-palazzodoria01.jpg|Palazzo Doria
Image:Galleria Mazzini.jpg|Galleria Mazzini
Image:Genovaduomo0001.jpg|St. Lawrence Cathedral
Bibliography
External links
