Official Language:
Italian
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Currency:
EUR
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Population:
Approximately 700,000 people call Genoa home.
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Weather:
Climate and current weather information for Genoa Italy: Expect highs between 70 and 80°F during the summer cruise season. Winters are mild. It's popular even in winter, although not for swimming. The average January temperature is approximately 50 degrees. June and jully are hotest months, june Average low-high 64-74°F/17-23°C, Jully 70-80°F/21-27°C.
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Located on the southwest coast of northern Italy, Genoa is one of the main Mediterranean ports. Genoa was the birthplace of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) and is now the capital of Liguria. Situated along the Gulf of Genoa, the capital of Liguria is also a leading Italian port, university town and a major commercial and industrial center. This city was founded in 218 B.C. by the Ligurians as a commercial port. Today, the old town is characterized by narrow, busy streets with usual Mediterranean ambiance. The new town on the other hand features modern buildings, gardens and villas. Visitors will be highly impressed by the magnificent marble palaces dating back from the 16th and 17th centuries.
The Republic of Genoa called itself the “Republica Superba,” or Proud Republic. Ironically, Christopher Columbus, who was born here, largely contributed to the loss of Genoa's power and influence by his discovery of alternate trade routes. Today, Genoa is still Italy’s main port city for commerce and industry. Many of the 820,000 residents of the city make their livelihood from shipping. But the Genovese economy has since expanded, with banking, electronics, and communications companies that have been built here. Genoa has suffered in recent years, with little to attract an expanding Italian tourism business. Most travelers go directly to Florence, Rome, and Venice, or just use Genoa as a transfer point for trips to the Italian or French Rivieras. Today, crime and pollution are bigger problems here than in other Italian cities. Nevertheless, there is plenty to see and do while in Genoa. The small streets twist and turn through the city, with lots of restaurants and shops to please the curious visitor.
City Layout -- Genoa extends for miles along the coast, with neighborhoods and suburbs tucked into valleys and climbing the city's many hills. Most sights of interest are in the Old Town, a fascinating jumble of old palazzos, laundry-festooned tenements, cramped squares, and tiny lanes and alleyways clustered on the eastern side of the old port. The city's two train stations are located on either side of the Old Town, known as Caruggi; as confusing as Genoa's topography is, wherever you are in the Old Town, you are only a short walk or bus or taxi ride from one of these two stations. Stazione Principe is the closest, just to the west; from Piazza Aquaverde in front of the station, follow Via Balbi through Piazza della Nunziata to Via Cairoli, which runs into Via Garibaldi (the walk will take about 15 min.). Palazzo-lined Via Garibaldi forms the northern flank of the Old Town and is the best place to begin your explorations. Many of the city's major museums and other major monuments are on and around this street, and from here you can descend into the warren of little lanes that lead through the cluttered heart of Caruggi down to the port.
From Stazione Brignole, walk straight across the broad, open, buildingless space to Piazza della Vittoria/Via Luigi Cadorna and turn right to follow broad Via XX Settembre, one of the city's major shopping avenues, due west for about 15 or 20 minutes to Piazza de Ferrari, which is on the eastern edge of the Old Town. From here, Via San Lorenzo will lead you past Genoa's cathedral and to the port, but if you want to use Via Garibaldi as your sightseeing base, continue north from the piazza on Via XXV Aprile to Piazza delle Fontane Marose. This busy square marks the eastern end of Via Garibaldi.
Festivals & Markets -- In June, an ancient tradition continues when Genoa takes to the sea in the Regatta Storica, competing against crews from its ancient maritime rivals, Amalfi, Pisa, and Venice. The winner of the previous year's competition hosts the event, so your chances of witnessing the regatta during a June visit to Genoa depends on the fortunes of the previous year's boatmen.
Genoa adds a touch of culture to the summer season with an International Ballet Festival that attracts a stellar list of performers from around the world. Performances are held in the beautiful gardens of Villa Gropallo in outlying Nervi, a late-19th-century resort with lush parks and an animated seaside promenade. Contact the tourist office in Genoa for schedules and ticket information. (Frequent trains connect Genoa and Nervi in 10 min. and run about every 20 min.) The tourist office also keeps tabs of the summer concerts staged at different venues, many of them outdoors, around the city.
The Mercato Orientale, Genoa's sprawling indoor food market, evokes the days when ships brought back spices and other commodities from the ends of the earth. Still a boisterous affair and an excellent place to stock up on olives, herbs, fresh fruit, and other Ligurian products, it is held Monday through Saturday from 7am to 1pm and 3:30 to 7:30pm (closed Wed afternoons), with entrances on Via XX Settembre and Via Galata (about halfway between Piazza de Ferrari at the edge of the old city and Stazione Brignole). The district just north of the market (especially Via San Vincenzo and Via Colombo) is a gourmand's dream, with many bakeries, pasticcerie (pastry shops), and stores selling pasta and cheese, wine, olive oil, and other foodstuffs.
Getting Around: Given Genoa's labyrinth of small streets (many of which can not be negotiated by taxi or bus), the only easy way to get around much of the city is on foot. This, however, can be a navigational feat that requires a good map. You can get a basic one for free at the tourist office, but it is woefully inadequate and lists only major arteries; purchase a more detailed map, preferably one with a good street index and a section showing the old city in detail, at a newsstand. Genovese are usually happy to direct visitors, but given the geography with which they are dealing, their instructions can be complicated. You should also be aware that Genoa's archaic street numbering system seems to have been designed to baffle tourists: Addresses in red (marked with an "r") generally indicate a commercial establishment; those in black are offices or residences. So, two buildings on the same street can have the same number, one in black, one in red.
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Attractions |
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Many cruise passengers come to Genoa and then leave right away to Portofino or head west to the Italian Riviera. Some ships tender passengers directly into Portofino where automobiles are not allowed in the village itself.
Visitors to Genoa can take strolls past elegant palazzos and unforgettable churches. Genoa has a reputation as a commercial sea power but that hides the fact that it is home to major art patrons. Portofino on the other hand, is a quaint fishing village with an exclusive yacht harbor.
Visit San Lorenzo, the Duomo, which combines a variety of architectural styles. The dazzling interior is a chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist. In the Museo del Teoro di San Lorenzo you will find important religious relics such as a Roman green glass dish supposedly used at the Last Supper and a blue plate on which St. John the Baptist’s head was presented to Salome. In addition to the many statues and monuments to their favorite son, the home of Christopher Columbus can be seen outside the old city gates.
From Genoa's docks take a taxi or tour to visit Genoa's historical center with the Patrician Palaces, regarded as one of the best preserved in Europe. From here you can also visit nearby Portofino and Santa Margherita as well as Milan, 130km (75 miles) inland.
Portofino is a destination in itself for visitors. It is a picturesque village that looks like a perfect postcard. You can see why wealthy yachters choose this port and why cruise passengers enjoy spending the day here wandering its quaint streets and relaxing by the sea.
Acquario di Genova (Aquarium of Genoa):
Europe's largest aquarium is one of Genoa's biggest draws and a must-see for travelers with children. The structure alone is remarkable, resembling a ship and built alongside a pier in the old harbor (the aquarium is about a 15-min. walk from Stazione Principe and about 10 min. from Via Garibaldi). Inside, more than 50 aquatic displays realistically re-create Red Sea coral reefs, pools in the tropical rainforests of the Amazon River basin, and other marine ecosystems. These environments provide a pleasant home for sharks, seals, and just about every other known kind of sea creature, and even the displays are fun -- one room is a forest of transparent columns eerily lit and filled with jellyfish; the playful seals and dolphins like to blow trick bubbles to entertain you; and there are small rays in a shallow pool that you can pet. All the descriptions are posted in English. There's also a 10-minute 3-D film on ocean life (ask for a sheet with the narration in English).
Cattedrale San Lorenzo:
The austerity of this black-and-white-striped 12th-century structure is enlivened ever so slightly by the fanciful French Gothic carvings around the portal and the presence of two stone lions. A later addition is the campanile, completed in the 16th century and containing at one corner a beloved Genoa artifact -- a sundial known as L'Arrotino (the knife grinder) for its utilitarian appearance. In the frescoed interior, chapels house two of Genoa's most notable curiosities: beyond the first pilaster on the right is a shell fired through the roof from a British ship offshore during World War II that never exploded, and in the Cappella di San Giovanni (left aisle), a 13th-century crypt contains what crusaders returning from the Holy Land claimed to be relics of John the Baptist. Fabled tableware of doubtful provenance appears to be a quirk of the adjoining treasury: The plate upon which Saint John's head was supposedly served to Salome, a bowl allegedly used at the Last Supper, and a bowl thought at one time to be the Holy Grail. The less fabled but nonetheless magnificent gold and bejeweled objects here reflect Genoa's medieval prominence as a maritime power. Entrance is only by guided tour; though the tours are only in Italian, you should take one anyway to get in and be able to look at what's inside.
Cathedral: Mon-Sat 9am-noon and 3-6pm. Treasury: by half-hour guided tour only (ask for one when you get there) Mon-Sat 9am-noon and 3-6pm. Admission to cathedral free; Treasury 5.50€ ($6) adults, 4.50€ ($5) seniors over 60 and students, 11€ ($12) family ticket for 2 adults and 2 children
Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola:
Another prominent Genovese family, the Spinolas, donated their palace and magnificent art collection to the city only recently, in 1958. One of the pleasures of viewing these works is seeing them amid the frescoed splendor in which the city's merchant/banking families once lived. As in Genoa's other art collections, you will find masterworks that range far beyond native artists like Strozzi and De Ferrari. In fact, perhaps the most memorable painting here is Ecce Homo, by the Sicilian master Antonello da Messina. Guido Reni and Luca Giordano are also well represented, as are Van Dyck (including his fragmentary Portrait of Ansaldo Pallavicino and four of the Evangelists) and other painters of the Dutch and Flemish schools, whom Genoa's wealthy burghers were so fond of importing to paint their portraits.
Located at Piazza Pellicceria, open Tues-Sat 8:30am-7:30pm; Sun 3-8pm ---Admission 4€ ($4.60), or 6.50€ ($7) cumulative ticket with Palazzo Reale
Galleria di Palazzo Bianco (White Palace):
One of Genoa's finest palaces, built of white stone by the powerful Grimaldi family in the 16th century and enlarged in the 18th century, houses the city's most notable collection of art. The paintings reflect the fine eye of the duchess of Galliera, who donated the palace and her art to the city in 1884. Her preference for painters of the northern schools, whom the affluent Genovese imported to decorate their palaces and paint their portraits, becomes strikingly obvious. Van Dyck and Rubens, both of whom came to Genoa in the early 17th century, are represented here with one painting each, as they are in the city's other major collections; one of the museum's most notable holdings is Portrait of a Lady by Lucas Cranach the Elder. The collection also includes works by other European and Italian masters (Filippino Lippi, Veronese, Palma il Giovanne, Caravaggio, Hans Memling, Jan Steen, Murillo, and Ribera), including several Genovese masters who were the catalyst for the city's flourishing art movements -- an entire room is dedicated to the works of Bernardo Strozzi, whose early-17th-century school made Genoa an important force in the baroque movement. The palazzo was closed for restorations when we went to press and will reopen sometime in late 2004. Web site www.museige.liguriainrete.it/palazzobianco
St. Augustine Museum of Ligurian Architecture and Sculpture:
The cloisters of the 13th-century church and monastery of Sant'Agostino (most of which, save its two cloisters and a campanile, were destroyed in World War II bombings) are the evocative setting for an eclectic and fascinating collection of architectural fragments and sculpture. Roman columns, statuary, and architectural debris from Genoa's churches are scattered in what seems to be random fashion throughout the grassy monastery gardens and in a few bare interior spaces. The treasures here are the panels from Giovanni Pisano's crypt for Margherita of Brabant, wife of the German emperor Henry IV. She died in Genoa in 1312 while en route to Rome for her husband's coronation as Holy Roman Emperor.
Shopping:
Shop in Portofino’s art galleries and jewelry shops, though it is a bit pricey. But window-shopping in the narrow streets is great. Visit the coastline west of Genoa, known as the Riviera Ponente, which has magnificent mansions by the sea, beautiful resorts, and pretty seafront villages.
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More Information |
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Visitor Information -- The main tourist office is near the aquarium on Via al Porto Antico (tel. 010-253-0671 or 010-248-711; fax 010-246-7658; www.apt.genova.it), open daily 9am to 1pm and 2 to 6pm. The agency also has branches at Stazione Principe (tel. 010-246-2633), open Monday to Saturday 9:30am to 1pm and 2:30 to 6pm.
A Genoa Warning--Even locals are wary of back streets in the old city, especially after dark and on midafternoons and Sundays, when shops are closed and streets tend to be deserted. Purse snatching, jewelry theft, and armed robberies are all too common. Also, count your change here.
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