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Genoa Travel Guide
Genoa or Genova is as multilayered as the hills it clings to. The Genoa's name comes from Genua, founded by the two headed Giano, protector of ships and coins. This was a city of two faces, which looks both inland and towards the sea. Genoa, as well as being full of mythical origins, has always been a crossroads of traffic and culture, between continental Europe and the Mediterranean, thanks to it natural position and the initiative of its inhabitants.
A city rich in art and a major seaport, of flourishing trade and commercial exchange, Genoa is one of the most extraordinary cities in Italy. Long ignored by conventional tourist routes, Genoa offers its visitors incredible attractions and a stunning artistic heritage. Maybe it’s this ancient port’s earthy atmosphere that puts the tourists off, or maybe it’s just that in Italy they are spoilt for choice. Whatever the reason, visitors are missing out on somewhere special. Genoa, once the equal and arch-rival of Venice, has a medieval old town to rival any in Europe.
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 putatively was born. Its medieval old town, the biggest in Europe, is an intricate labyrinth of alleyways, where among the shops, restaurants, and local stores, visitors can catch sight of the city's noble past in its 16th century palazzos, baroque edifices, and Romanesque churches, looming over the little piazzas.
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.
The city center is a manageable extension but it's a bit of a steep climb from the port to the old town (centro storico) via narrow, unmapped caruggi, medieval streets punctuated by treasure-filled churches and stylish boutiques. Gorgeous antiques are displayed in the frescoed entrance to a 16th-century palace at Galleria Imperiale, at the bottom of via Scurreria, off piazza di Lorenzo. Eventually, the caruggi lead to the city’s main squares: piazza Banchi, once a grain market, now filled with flower compartments and second-hand record shops; the revamped piazza de Ferrari, with the Palazzo della Borsa, a major exhibition center, on its south-east corner; and the neighbouring piazza Matteotti, with the imposing Palazzo Ducale, once home to Genoa’s ruler, the Doge, and now an exhibition hall. Rubens has two works in the Gesù church nearby, itself a 16th-century baroque masterpiece.
Genoa
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Genoa
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Genoa
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Genoa
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 The City of Genoa
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