Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of
Liguria
Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...
and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the
Province of Genoa
The Province of Genoa ( Italian ''Provincia di Genova'') was a province in the Liguria region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Genoa. It was replaced by Metropolitan City of Genoa.
Overview
It has an area of and a total population of about ...
, which in 2015 became the
Metropolitan City of Genoa
The Metropolitan City of Genoa ( it, Città Metropolitana di Genova) is one of the fourteen Metropolitan cities of Italy, located in the region of Liguria. Its capital is the city of Genoa. It replaced the Province of Genoa.
History
It was fir ...
, had 855,834 resident persons. Over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the
Italian Riviera
The Italian Riviera or Ligurian Riviera ( it, Riviera ligure; lij, Rivêa lìgure) is the narrow coastal strip in Italy which lies between the Ligurian Sea and the mountain chain formed by the Maritime Alps and the Apennines. Longitudinall ...
.
On the
Gulf of Genoa
The Gulf of Genoa (''Golfo di Genova'') is the northernmost part of the Ligurian Sea. This Italian gulf is about wide from the city of Imperia in the west to La Spezia in the east. The largest city on its coast is Genoa, which has an importa ...
in the
Ligurian Sea
The Ligurian Sea ( it, Mar Ligure; french: Mer Ligurienne; lij, Mâ Ligure) is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies between the Italian Riviera (Liguria) and the island of Corsica. The sea is thought to have been named after the ancient ...
, Genoa has historically been one of the most important ports on the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
: it is currently the busiest in Italy and in the Mediterranean Sea and twelfth-busiest in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
.
Genoa was the capital of one of the most powerful maritime republics for over seven centuries, from the 11th century to 1797. Particularly from the 12th century to the 15th century, the city played a leading role in the commercial trade in Europe, becoming one of the largest naval powers of the continent and considered among the wealthiest cities in the world. It was also nicknamed ''la Superba'' ("the proud one") by
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.
Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...
due to its glories on the seas and impressive landmarks. The city has hosted massive shipyards and steelworks since the 19th century, and its solid financial sector dates back to the Middle Ages. The
Bank of Saint George
The Bank of Saint George ( it, Casa delle compere e dei banchi di San Giorgio or informally as ''Ufficio di San Giorgio'' or ''Banco'') was a financial institution of the Republic of Genoa. It was founded in 1407 to consolidate the public debt ...
, founded in 1407, is the oldest known state deposit bank in the world and has played an important role in the city's prosperity since the middle of the 15th century.
The historical centre, also known as old town, of Genoa is one of the largest and most-densely populated in Europe. Part of it was also inscribed on the World Heritage List (UNESCO) in 2006 as Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli. Genoa's historical city centre is also known for its narrow lanes and streets that the locals call "caruggi". Genoa is also home to the
University of Genoa
The University of Genoa, known also with the acronym UniGe ( it, Università di Genova), is one of the largest universities in Italy. It is located in the city of Genoa and regional Metropolitan City of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Ligur ...
, which has a history going back to the 15th century, when it was known as Genuense Athenaeum. The city's rich cultural history in art,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
and
cuisine
A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, customs, and ingredients combine to ...
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
,
Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria, Prince of Melfi (; lij, Drîa Döia ; 30 November 146625 November 1560) was a Genoese statesman, ', and admiral, who played a key role in the Republic of Genoa during his lifetime.
As the ruler of Genoa, Doria reformed the Rep ...
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2 ...
and
Grimaldo Canella
Grimaldo Canella (d. ''c.'' 1184) was the youngest son of Otto Canella and Consul of Genoa in 1162, 1170, and 1184. Grimaldo is considered the progenitor and eponym of the House of Grimaldi.
Origins
Canella was probably born in Genoa around 11 ...
, founder of the
House of Grimaldi
The House of Grimaldi ( , also , , ) is the current reigning house of the Principality of Monaco. The house was founded in 1160 by Grimaldo Canella in Genoa and became the ruling house of Monaco when Francesco Grimaldi captured Monaco in 1297 ...
, among others.
Genoa, which forms the southern corner of the Milan-Turin-Genoa industrial triangle of Northwest Italy, is one of the country's major economic centers. A number of leading Italian companies are based in the city, including Fincantieri, Selex ES,
Ansaldo Energia
Ansaldo Energia S.p.A. is an Italian power engineering company. It is based in Genoa, Italy. The absorbed parent company, Gio. Ansaldo & C., started in 1853. It was taken over by Leonardo S.p.A. In 2011, Leonardo S.p.A. sold 45% stake in ...
Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone
ERG S.p.A. is a publicly listed Italian energy company, founded in 1938, and based in Genoa, Italy.
History
ERG was founded by Edoardo Guida Garrone in 1938, founding a company for the refining of petroleum. In 1952, ERG signs an agreement to ...
,
Piaggio Aerospace
Piaggio Aerospace, formerly Piaggio Aero Industries, is a multinational aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Villanova d'Albenga, Italy. The company designs, develops, manufactures and maintains aircraft, aero-engines, aerospace c ...
Costa Cruises
S.p.A. (), operating as Costa Cruises, is an Italian cruise line founded in 1854 and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc since 2000. Based in Genoa, Italy, the cruise line primarily caters to the Italian crui ...
.
Name
The city's modern name may derive from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
word meaning "knee" (''genu''; plural, ''genua'') but there are other theories. It could derive from the god
Janus
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus ( ; la, Ianvs ) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Jan ...
, because Genoa, like him, has two faces: a face that looks at the sea and another turned to the mountains. Or it could come from the Latin word ''ianua'', also related to the name of the God Janus, and meaning "door", or "passage." Besides that, it may refer to its geographical position at the centre of the Ligurian coastal arch. The Latin name, ''oppidum Genua'', is recorded by
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
''.
Another theory traces the name to the Etruscan word ''Kainua'' which means "New City", based on an inscription on a pottery sherd reading ''Kainua'', which suggests that the Latin name may be a corruption of an older Etruscan one with an original meaning of "new town".
History
Prehistory and Roman times
The city's area has been inhabited since the fifth or fourth millennium BC, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. In the fifth century BC the first town, or oppidum, was founded probably by the ancient Ligures (which gave the name to the modern region of
Liguria
Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...
) at the top of the hill today called Castello (Castle), which is now inside the medieval old town. In this period the Genoese town, inhabited by the "Genuati" (a group of Ligure peoples), was considered "the emporium of the Ligurians", given its strong commercial character.
The "Genoese oppidum" had an alliance with
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
through a ''foedus aequum'' (equal pact) in the course of the
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...
. The
Carthaginians
The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...
accordingly destroyed it in 209 BC. The town was rebuilt and, after the
Carthaginian Wars
The Punic Wars were a series of wars between 264 and 146BC fought between Rome and Carthage. Three conflicts between these states took place on both land and sea across the western Mediterranean region and involved a total of forty-three yea ...
ended in 146 BC, it received municipal rights. The original ''castrum'' then expanded towards the current areas of Santa Maria di Castello and the San Lorenzo promontory. Trade goods included skins, timber, and honey. Goods were moved to and from Genoa's hinterland, including major cities like
Tortona
Tortona (; pms, Torton-a , ; lat, Dhertona) is a '' comune'' of Piemonte, in the Province of Alessandria, Italy. Tortona is sited on the right bank of the Scrivia between the plain of Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines.
Histor ...
and Piacenza. An amphitheater was also found there among other archaeological remains from the Roman period.
Middle Ages to early modern period
5th to 10th centuries
After the fall of the
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...
, the
Ostrogoths
The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who ...
vicar
A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...
. When the
Lombards
The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774.
The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...
invaded Italy in 568, Bishop Honoratus of
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...
fled and held his seat in Genoa. During this time and in the following century Genoa was little more than a small centre, slowly building its merchant fleet, which was to become the leading commercial carrier of the Western Mediterranean. In 934–35 the town was thoroughly sacked and burned by a
Fatimid fleet
The navy of the Fatimid Caliphate was one of the most developed early Muslim navies and a major military force in the central and eastern Mediterranean in the 10th–12th centuries. As with the dynasty it served, its history can be distinguished ...
First Crusade
The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ...
. At the time the city had a population of about 10,000. Twelve
galley
A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be u ...
s, one ship and 1,200 soldiers from Genoa joined the crusade. The Genoese troops, led by noblemen de Insula and Avvocato, set sail in July 1097. The Genoese fleet transported and provided naval support to the crusaders, mainly during the
siege of Antioch
The siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098, on the crusaders' way to Jerusalem through Syria. Two sieges took place in succession. The first siege, by the crusaders against the city held by the Seljuk Empire, ...
in 1098, when the Genoese fleet blockaded the city while the troops provided support during the siege. In the siege of Jerusalem in 1099 Genoese crossbowmen led by Guglielmo Embriaco acted as support units against the defenders of the city.
The Republic's role as a maritime power in the Mediterranean region secured many favorable commercial treaties for Genoese merchants. They came to control a large portion of the trade of the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
Principality of Antioch
The Principality of Antioch was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It exte ...
, Cilician Armenia, and Egypt. Although Genoa maintained free-trading rights in Egypt and Syria, it lost some of its territorial possessions after Saladin's campaigns in those areas in the late 12th century.
13th and 14th centuries
The commercial and cultural rivalry of Genoa and Venice was played out through the thirteenth century. Thanks to the
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia ...
major role in the
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...
, meant that Venetian trading rights were enforced, and Venice gained control of a large portion of the commerce of the eastern Mediterranean.
In order to regain control of the commerce, the Republic of Genoa allied with
Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Μιχαὴλ Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος, Mikhaēl Doukas Angelos Komnēnos Palaiologos; 1224 – 11 December 1282) reigned as the co-emperor of the Empire ...
, emperor of
Nicaea
Nicaea, also known as Nicea or Nikaia (; ; grc-gre, Νίκαια, ) was an ancient Greek city in Bithynia, where located in northwestern Anatolia and is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and s ...
, who wanted to restore the Byzantine Empire by recapturing
. In March 1261 the treaty of the alliance was signed in
Nymphaeum
A ''nymphaeum'' or ''nymphaion'' ( grc, νυμφαῖον), in ancient Greece and Rome, was a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs.
These monuments were originally natural grottoes, which tradition assigned as habit ...
. On July 25, 1261, Nicaean troops under Alexios Strategopoulos recaptured Constantinople. As a result, the balance of favour tipped toward Genoa, which was granted free trade rights in the Nicene Empire. The islands of
Chios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mast ...
and
Lesbos
Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Asia Minor by the nar ...
became commercial stations of Genoa as well as the city of
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prom ...
(Izmir). In the same century the Republic conquered many settlements in
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...
was established. The alliance with the restored Byzantine Empire increased the wealth and power of Genoa, and simultaneously decreased Venetian and Pisan commerce. The Byzantine Empire had granted the majority of free trading rights to Genoa.
Around the 14th century, Genoa was also considered responsible for the creation of the
Jeans
Jeans are a type of pants or trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with copper-riveted pockets which were invented by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and pa ...
. Genoa's jean fabric was a
fustian
Fustian is a variety of heavy cloth woven from cotton, chiefly prepared for menswear. It is also used figuratively to refer to pompous, inflated or pretentious writing or speech, from at least the time of Shakespeare. This literary use is b ...
textile of "medium quality and of reasonable cost", very similar to cotton
corduroy
Corduroy is a textile with a distinctively raised "cord" or wale texture. Modern corduroy is most commonly composed of tufted cords, sometimes exhibiting a channel (bare to the base fabric) between them. Both velvet and corduroy derive from fu ...
for which Genoa was famous, and was "used for work clothes in general". The Genoese navy equipped its sailors with jeans, as they needed a fabric which could be worn wet or dry.
As a result of the Genoese support to the Aragonese rule in
, Genoa was granted free trading and export rights in the Kingdom. Genoese bankers also profited from loans to the new nobility of Sicily. While Corsica was formally annexed in 1347.
15th and 16th centuries
In the 15th century two of the earliest banks in the world were founded in Genoa: the
Bank of Saint George
The Bank of Saint George ( it, Casa delle compere e dei banchi di San Giorgio or informally as ''Ufficio di San Giorgio'' or ''Banco'') was a financial institution of the Republic of Genoa. It was founded in 1407 to consolidate the public debt ...
, founded in 1407, which was the oldest state deposit bank in the world at its closure in 1805 and the
Banca Carige
Banca Carige S.p.A., historically known as Cassa di Risparmio di Genova e Imperia (Ca.Ri.Ge.) is an Italian bank based in Genoa, with more than 500 bank branches in Italy. The predecessor of the bank, a mount of piety, was founded in 1483 in ...
, founded in 1483 as a
mount of piety
A mount of piety is an institutional pawnbroker run as a charity in Europe from Renaissance times until today. Similar institutions were established in the colonies of Catholic countries; the Mexican Nacional Monte de Piedad is still in operatio ...
, which still exists.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
was born in Genoa 1451, and donated one-tenth of his income from the discovery of the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...
for Spain to the
Bank of Saint George
The Bank of Saint George ( it, Casa delle compere e dei banchi di San Giorgio or informally as ''Ufficio di San Giorgio'' or ''Banco'') was a financial institution of the Republic of Genoa. It was founded in 1407 to consolidate the public debt ...
in Genoa for the relief of taxation on foods. Under the ensuing economic recovery, many aristocratic Genoese families, such as the Balbi, Doria, Grimaldi, Pallavicini, and Serra, amassed tremendous fortunes. According to Felipe Fernandez-Armesto and others, the practices Genoa developed in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
(such as chattel slavery) were crucial in the exploration and exploitation of the New World.
Thereafter, Genoa underwent something of an associate of the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
, with Genoese bankers, in particular, financing many of the Spanish crown's foreign endeavors from their
counting house
A counting house, or counting room, was traditionally an office in which the financial books of a business were kept. It was also the place that the business received appointments and correspondence relating to demands for payment.
As the use of ...
s in
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...
.
Fernand Braudel
Fernand Braudel (; 24 August 1902 – 27 November 1985) was a French historian and leader of the Annales School. His scholarship focused on three main projects: ''The Mediterranean'' (1923–49, then 1949–66), ''Civilization and Capitalism'' ...
has even called the period 1557 to 1627 the "age of the Genoese", "of a rule that was so discreet and sophisticated that historians for a long time failed to notice it" (Braudel 1984 p. 157). The Genoese bankers provided the unwieldy
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
system with fluid credit and a dependably regular income. In return the less dependable shipments of American silver were rapidly transferred from Seville to Genoa, to provide capital for further ventures. Genoa's trade, however, remained closely dependent on control of Mediterranean sealanes, and the loss of
Chios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mast ...
to the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
(1566), struck a severe blow.
17th and 18th centuries
From the 17th century, the Genoese Republic started a period of slow decline, in May 1625 a French-Savoian army briefly laid siege to Genoa. Though it was eventually lifted with the aid of the Spanish, the French would later bombard the city in May 1684 for its support of Spain during the War of the Reunions. In-between, a
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
killed as many as half of the inhabitants of Genoa in 1656–57. Genoa continued its slow decline well into the 18th century, losing its last
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...
, caused some consternation in the Republic. Consequently, the Republic of Genoa signed a secret treaty with the Bourbon allies of
Kingdom of France
The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...
,
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
and
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...
. On 26 June 1745, the Republic of Genoa declared war on the Kingdom of Sardinia. This decision would prove disastrous for Genoa, which later surrendered to the Austrians in September 1746 and was briefly occupied before a revolt liberated the city two months later.
In 1780, the Confetteria Romanengo was founded.
In a much weaker state, Genoa was forced to cede Corsica to the French in the 1768
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1 ...
.
The direct intervention of
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
(during the Campaigns of 1796) and his representatives in Genoa was the final act that led to the fall of the Republic in early June, who overthrew the old elites which had ruled the state for all of its history, giving birth to the Ligurian Republic on June 14, 1797, under the watchful care of Napoleonic France. After Bonaparte's seizure of power in France, a more conservative constitution was enacted, but the Ligurian Republic's life was short—in 1805 it was annexed by France, becoming the '' départements'' of Apennins, Gênes, and Montenotte.
Following the fall of Napoleon, Genoa regained an ephemeral independence, with the name of the ''Repubblica genovese'', which lasted less than a year. However, the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...
established the annexation of the whole territories of the former Genoese Republic to the
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...
, governed by the
House of Savoy
The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...
, contravening the principle of restoring the legitimate governments and monarchies of the old Republic.
19th century
In the 19th century, Genoa consolidated its role as a major seaport and an important steel and shipbuilding centre. In Genoa in 1853, Giovanni Ansaldo founded Gio. Ansaldo & C. whose shipyards would build some of the most beautiful ships in the world, such as
ARA Garibaldi
ARA ''Garibaldi'' was one of four armored cruisers purchased by the Argentine Navy from Italy.
Design and description
''Garibaldi'' had an overall length of , a beam of , and a mean draft (ship) of . She displaced at normal load. The ship was ...
SS Leonardo da Vinci
A number of steamships have been named Leonardo da Vinci, including:
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonardo da Vinci
Ship names
pl:SS Leonardo da Vinci ...
,
SS Michelangelo
SS ''Michelangelo'' was an Italian ocean liner built in 1965 for Italian Line by Ansaldo Shipyards, Genoa. She was one of the last ships to be built primarily for liner service across the North Atlantic. Her sister ship was the SS ''Raffaello' ...
Costa Crociere
Società per Azioni, S.p.A. (), operating as Costa Cruises, is an Italian cruise line founded in 1854 and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc since 2000. Based in Genoa, Genoa, Italy, the cruise line primarily ca ...
was founded. In 1861 the
Registro Italiano Navale
RINA is a private, multinational company headquartered in Genoa, Italy. It was founded in 1861 under the name Registro Italiano Navale (''Italian Naval Register'').
That same year, following the enforcement of a 1994 European Council directive r ...
Italian register of shipping was created, and in 1879 the
Yacht Club Italiano
The Yacht Club Italiano is a yacht club in Genoa, Italy.
History
It was founded in 1879 and is one of the oldest sailing clubs in the Mediterranean. This club was bestowed Royal Patronage by HRH King Umberto I of Italy since its inception.
Th ...
. The owner Raffaele Rubattino in 1881 was among the founders of the ferry company Navigazione Generale Italiana which then become the Italian Line.
In 1870 was founded Banca di Genova which in 1895 changed its name to Credito Italiano and in 1998 became Unicredit.
In 1874 the city was completely connected by railway lines to France and the rest of Italy: Genoa-Turin, Genoa-Ventimiglia, Genoa-Pisa.
In 1884 Rinaldo Piaggio founded Piaggio & C. that produced locomotives and railway carriages and then in 1923 began aircraft production.
In 1888 the Banca Passadore was established.
In 1898 the insurance company called
Alleanza Assicurazioni
Alleanza Assicurazioni is an Italian insurance company based in Milan. It was founded in Genoa in 1898 and refounded in Milan in 2013. The company is particularly active in the life insurance
Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in t ...
was founded.
20th century
In 1917
Lloyd Italico
Lloyd Italico, Compagnia di assicurazioni e riassicurazioni known as Lloyd Italico was an Italian insurance company. It was specialized in maritime insurance. In 2006, the company was acquired by Assicurazioni Generali and maintained its brand ...
insurance company was founded.
In 1956 Genoa took part in the
Regatta of the Historical Marine Republics
The Regatta of the Historical Maritime Republics (or Palio of the Historical Maritime Republics) is a sporting event of historical re-enactment, established in 1955 with the aim of recalling the rivalry of the most famous Italian maritime republic ...
.
In 1962
Genoa International Boat Show
The Genoa International Boat Show ( it, Salone Nautico di Genova) is one of the world's premier boat shows, held annually in Genoa ( Italy, EU). The exhibition is organised by Confindustria Nautica, the Italian Marine Industry Association.
Hist ...
was established.
In 1966 Euroflora was established.
In 1970 Genoa was hit by a serious flood, which caused the Bisagno stream to overflow.
In 1987 the Banco di San Giorgio was established.
In 1992 Genoa celebrated the Colombiadi or Genoa Expo '92, the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the American Continent by
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
. The area of the ancient port of Genoa is restructured and expanded also with the works of the architect
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2 ...
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...
.
On 14 August 2018 the
Ponte Morandi
(English: Morandi Bridge), officially (English: Polcevera Viaduct), was a road viaduct in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, constructed between 1963 and 1967 along the A10 motorway over the Polcevera River, from which it derived its official name. It c ...
viaduct bridge for motor vehicles collapsed during a torrential downpour, leading to 43 deaths.
The remains of the
Ponte Morandi
(English: Morandi Bridge), officially (English: Polcevera Viaduct), was a road viaduct in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, constructed between 1963 and 1967 along the A10 motorway over the Polcevera River, from which it derived its official name. It c ...
viaduct bridge were demolished in August 2019. The replacement bridge, the Genoa-Saint George Bridge was inaugurated in August 2020 during
COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.
In 2023 Genoa becomes the finish of
The Ocean Race
The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Rac ...
.
Flag
The flag of Genoa is a
St. George's Cross
In heraldry, Saint George's Cross, the Cross of Saint George, is a red cross on a white background, which from the Late Middle Ages became associated with Saint George, the military saint, often depicted as a crusader.
Associated with the ...
, a red cross on a white field.
The patron saint of Genoa was Saint Lawrence until at least 958, but the Genoese transferred their allegiance to
Saint George
Saint George ( Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldie ...
(and Saint
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
) at some point during the 11th or 12th century, most likely with the rising popularity of the military saint during the
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...
. Genoa also had a banner displaying a cross since at latest 1218, possibly as early as 1113. But the cross banner was not associated with the saint; indeed, the saint had his own flag, the ''vexillum beati Georgii'' (first mentioned 1198), a red flag showing George and the dragon. A depiction of this flag is shown in the Genoese annals under the year 1227. The Genoese flag with the red cross was used alongside this "Saint George's flag", from at least 1218, known as the ''insignia cruxata comunis Janue'' ("cross ensign of the commune of Genoa").
The saint's flag was the city's main war flag, but the cross flag was used alongside it in the 1240s.
The Saint George's flag (i.e. the flag depicting the saint) remained the main flag of Genoa at least until the 1280s. The flag now known as the "St. George's Cross" seems to have replaced it as Genoa's main flag at some point during the 14th century. The ''
Book of Knowledge of All Kingdoms
The or ''Book of Knowledge of All Kingdoms'', also known as the ''Book of All Kingdoms'', is an anonymous 14th-century Castilian geographical and armorial manual (dated to ca. 1385).
It is written in the form of imaginary autobiographical tr ...
'' (c. 1385) shows it, inscribed with the word ''iustiçia'', and described as:
There was also a historiographical tradition claiming that the flag of England was adopted from the Genoese flag during the
Third Crusade
The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity ( Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...
in 1190, however, it cannot be substantiated as historical.
Geography
The city of Genoa covers an area of between the
Ligurian Sea
The Ligurian Sea ( it, Mar Ligure; french: Mer Ligurienne; lij, Mâ Ligure) is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies between the Italian Riviera (Liguria) and the island of Corsica. The sea is thought to have been named after the ancient ...
and the
Apennine Mountains
The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...
. The city stretches along the coast for about from the neighbourhood of Voltri to Nervi, and for from the coast to the north along the valleys
Polcevera
The Polcevera (in Ligurian ''Pûçéivia'' or ''Ponçéivia'') is a river in Liguria ( Italy).
Geography
The river is named the Polcevera from Pontedecimo, at the confluence of the Torrente Riccò (left-hand) and torrente Verde (right-hand) ...
and Bisagno. The territory of Genoa is popularly divided into 5 main zones: the centre, the west, the east, the
Polcevera
The Polcevera (in Ligurian ''Pûçéivia'' or ''Ponçéivia'') is a river in Liguria ( Italy).
Geography
The river is named the Polcevera from Pontedecimo, at the confluence of the Torrente Riccò (left-hand) and torrente Verde (right-hand) ...
and the Bisagno Valley. Although much of the city centre is located at a low elevation, the territory surrounding it is mountainous with undeveloped land usually being in steep terrain.
Genoa is adjacent to two popular Ligurian vacation spots:
Camogli
Camogli (; lij, label= Genoese, Camoggi ) is a fishing village and tourist resort located on the west side of the peninsula of Portofino, on the Golfo Paradiso in the Riviera di Levante, in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, Liguria, northern Italy. ...
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
(''Csa'') in the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
, since only one summer month has less than of rainfall, preventing it from being classified as solely
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
, with a special note for the Genoa low.
The average yearly temperature is around during the day and at night. In the coldest months: December, January and February, the average temperature is during the day and at night. In the warmest months – July and August – the average temperature is during the day and at night. The daily temperature range is limited, with an average range of about between high and low temperatures. Genoa also sees significant moderation from the sea, in stark contrast to areas behind the Ligurian mountains such as
Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second m ...
, where summers are hotter and winters are quite cold.
Annually, the average 2.9 of nights recorded temperatures of ≤ (mainly in January). The coldest temperature ever recorded was in February 2012; the highest temperature ever recorded during the day is in August 2015. Average annual number of days with temperatures of ≥ is about 8, average four days in July and August.
Average annual temperature of the sea is , from in the period January–March to in August. In the period from June to October, the average sea temperature exceeds .
Genoa is also a windy city, especially during winter when northern winds often bring cool air from the
Po Valley
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic ex ...
(usually accompanied by lower temperatures, high pressure and clear skies). Another typical wind blows from southeast, mostly as a consequence of Atlantic disturbances and storms, bringing humid and warmer air from the sea. Snowfall is sporadic, but does occur almost every year, albeit big amounts in the city centre are rare. Genoa often receives heavy rainfall in autumn from strong convection. Even so, the overall number of precipitation days is quite modest for the annual yield.
Annual average
relative humidity
Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present.
Humidity dep ...
is 68%, ranging from 63% in February to 73% in May.
Sunshine hours total above 2,200 per year, from an average 4 hours of sunshine duration per day in winter to average 9 hours in summer. This value is an average between the northern half of Europe and North Africa.
Government
Municipal government
The Municipal Council of Genoa is currently led by a
right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...
majority, elected in June 2017. The mayor is Marco Bucci, expression of a right-wing alliance composed by
Forza Italia
Forza ItaliaThe name is not usually translated into English: ''forza'' is the second-person singular imperative of ''forzare'', in this case translating to "to compel" or "to press", and so means something like "Forward, Italy", "Come on, Ital ...
,
Lega Nord
Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its offici ...
,
Fratelli d'Italia
"" (; "The Song of the Italians") is a canto written by Goffredo Mameli set to music by Michele Novaro in 1847, and is the current national anthem of Italy. It is best known among Italians as the "" (, "Mameli's Hymn"), after the author of th ...
and other minor lists. Genoa was traditionally considered a leftist city and Bucci is the first right-wing mayor since 1975.
Administrative subdivision
The city of Genoa is subdivided into nine municipi (administrative districts), as approved by the Municipal Council in 2007.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
Palazzo Rosso
The Palazzo Brignole Sale or Palazzo Rosso is a house museum located in Via Garibaldi, in the historical center of Genoa, in Northwestern Italy. The palace is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the P ...
, Palazzo Bianco, Palazzo Podestà o di Nicolosio Lomellino,
Palazzo Reale
This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent.
Africa
* Abdin Palace, Cairo
* Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo
* Koubbeh Palace, Cairo
* Tahra Palace, Cairo
* Menelik Palace
* Jubilee Palace
* Guenete Leul Palace
* Imperial Palace- Mas ...
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
dimension with following 16th century and
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
interventions (the ancient Via Aurea, now Via Garibaldi).
Near Via Garibaldi, through the public elevator Castelletto Levante, one can reach one of the most scenic places in the city, Belvedere Castelletto. The centre of Genoa is connected to its upper part by ancient paths caught between tall palaces, called ''creuze''. Walking along these small paths one can reach magnificent places like the Santuario di Nostra Signora di Loreto. Very beautiful is the upper ring road so-called Circonvallazione a Monte that includes Corso Firenze, Corso Paganini, Corso Magenta, Via Solferino, and Corso Armellini.
San Lorenzo cathedral has a splendid portal and the dome designed by Galeazzo Alessi. Inside is found the treasure of the Cathedral where among other objects there is also what is said to be the Holy Chalice.
The symbols of the city are the
Lanterna
Lanterna is a musical project led by guitarist Henry Frayne (musician), Henry Frayne, formerly of Lodestone Destiny, The Syndicate, Ack-Ack, Area and The Moon Seven Times. Their tracks are evocative soundscapes, usually instrumental, that focus o ...
(the lighthouse) ( high), old and standing lighthouse visible in the distance from the sea (beyond ), and the monumental fountain of
Piazza De Ferrari
Piazza De Ferrari is the main square of Genoa. Situated in the heart of the city between the historical and the modern center, Piazza De Ferrari is renowned for its fountain, which was restored in recent years along with a major restyling of the ...
, recently restored, out-and-out core of the city's life. Near
Piazza De Ferrari
Piazza De Ferrari is the main square of Genoa. Situated in the heart of the city between the historical and the modern center, Piazza De Ferrari is renowned for its fountain, which was restored in recent years along with a major restyling of the ...
and
Teatro Carlo Felice
The Teatro Carlo Felice is the principal opera house of Genoa, Italy, used for performances of opera, ballet, orchestral music, and recitals. It is located on the side of Piazza De Ferrari.
The hall is named for King Carlo Felice, and dates fr ...
is the Mazzini Gallery, a typical nineteenth-century structure with many elegant shops and coffee bars.
Another tourist destination is the ancient seaside district of
Boccadasse
Boccadasse (''Boca d'âze'' or ''Bocadâze'' in Genoese) is an old mariners' village of the Italian city of Genoa. It lies within the borders of the neighbourhood of Albaro. In today's administrative subdivision it is located in the Municipio V ...
(which means "the mouth of the donkey"), with its multicolour boats, set as a seal to Corso Italia, the promenade which runs along the Lido d'Albaro, and known for its ice-creams. After Boccadasse you can continue along the sea up to
Sturla
Sturla (Stûrlâ in Ligurian) is a quartiere of Genoa. It began life as an ancient fishing village which developed around a number of small coves – Sturla a Mare, at the mouth of the Sturla river, Vernazzola and Boccadasse (Boccadasse is now ...
.
Just out of the city centre, but still part of the of coast included in the municipality's territory, are Nervi, natural doorway to the Ligurian East
Riviera
''Riviera'' () is an Italian word which means "coastline", ultimately derived from Latin , through Ligurian . It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of Liguria, in the form ''Riviera ligure'', then shortened in English. The two area ...
Riviera
''Riviera'' () is an Italian word which means "coastline", ultimately derived from Latin , through Ligurian . It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of Liguria, in the form ''Riviera ligure'', then shortened in English. The two area ...
. Nervi offers many attractions: the promenade overlooking the sea called ; parks covered with lush tropical vegetation; numerous villas and palaces open to the public that now house museums (like GAM-Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Raccolte Frugone Museum, Museo Giannettino Luxoro and Wolfsoniana). (see also ) The East Riviera of Genoa called Riviera di Levante is part of the
Italian Riviera
The Italian Riviera or Ligurian Riviera ( it, Riviera ligure; lij, Rivêa lìgure) is the narrow coastal strip in Italy which lies between the Ligurian Sea and the mountain chain formed by the Maritime Alps and the Apennines. Longitudinall ...
. East Riviera is full of interesting towns to visit, and then from Genoa to east are: Bogliasco, Pieve Ligure, Sori, Recco,
Camogli
Camogli (; lij, label= Genoese, Camoggi ) is a fishing village and tourist resort located on the west side of the peninsula of Portofino, on the Golfo Paradiso in the Riviera di Levante, in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, Liguria, northern Italy. ...
Santa Margherita Ligure
Santa Margherita Ligure ( lij, Santa Margaita) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa, in the area traditionally known as Tigullio. It has a port, used fo ...
,
Rapallo
Rapallo ( , , ) is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, located in the Liguria region of northern Italy.
As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and Chiav ...
,
Zoagli
Zoagli ( lij, Zoagi) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa. Zoagli is a popular destination during all seasons of the year by tourists from all over the ...
,
Chiavari
Chiavari (; lij, Ciävai ) is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, in Italy. It has about 28,000 inhabitants. It is situated near the river Entella.
History
Pre-Roman and Roman Era
A pre-Roman necropolis, which dates ...
,
Lavagna
Lavagna is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, Italy.
History and Culture
The village, unlike nearby Chiavari which has pre-Roman evidence, seems to have developed in Roman times with the Latin name of ''Lavania''. T ...
Arenzano
Arenzano (local lij, Rensën) is a coastal town and '' comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, Liguria, northern Italy, facing the Ligurian Sea. , it has a population of 11,445. This varies during the holiday seasons due to tourist flow.
T ...
is a seaside town at the foot of the Parco naturale regionale del Beigua.
The new Genoa based its rebirth upon the restoration of the green areas of the immediate inland parts, among them the Parco naturale regionale del Beigua, and upon the construction of facilities such as the Aquarium of Genoa in the Old Harbour – the biggest in Italy and one of the major in Europe – and its
Marina
A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.
A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or ...
(the tourist small port which holds hundreds of pleasure boats). All of these are inside the restored Expo Area, arranged in occasion of the Columbian Celebrations of 1992.
Near the city are
Camogli
Camogli (; lij, label= Genoese, Camoggi ) is a fishing village and tourist resort located on the west side of the peninsula of Portofino, on the Golfo Paradiso in the Riviera di Levante, in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, Liguria, northern Italy. ...
and
San Fruttuoso abbey
The Abbey of San Fruttuoso is on the Italian Riviera between Camogli and Portofino. It is the seat of the Catholic parish of the same name of the Vicariate of Recco-Uscio-Camogli, Archdiocese of Genoa.
The abbey is located in a small bay beneath ...
accessible by a daily ferry from the Old Harbour (Porto Antico) of Genoa. In the seabed in front of the San Fruttuoso abbey there is the
Christ of the Abyss
''Christ of the Abyss'' (Italian: ''Il Cristo degli Abissi'') is a submerged bronze statue of Jesus Christ by , the original cast of which is located in the Mediterranean Sea, off San Fruttuoso, between Camogli and Portofino on the Italian ...
. From the Old Harbour one can reach by boat other famous seaside places around Genoa such as Portofino or a little more distant,
Lerici
Lerici ( lij, Lerxi, locally ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of La Spezia in Liguria (northern Italy), part of the Italian Riviera. It is situated on the coast of the Gulf of La Spezia, southeast of La Spezia. It is known as the plac ...
and the
Cinque Terre
The Cinque Terre (; lij, Çinque Tære, meaning "Five Lands") is a coastal area within Liguria, in the northwest of Italy. It lies in the west of La Spezia Province, and comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarol ...
.
The regained pride gave back to the city the consciousness of being capable of looking to the future without forgetting its past. The resumption of several flourishing hand-crafting activities, far-back absent from the ''caruggi'' of the old town, is a direct evidence of it. The restoration of many of Genoa's churches and palaces in the 1980s and the 1990s contributed to the city's rebirth. A notable example the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...
, Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, sitting on the top of the hill of Carignano and visible from almost every part of the city. The total restoration of
Doge's Palace
The Doge's Palace ( it, Palazzo Ducale; vec, Pałaso Dogal) is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme aut ...
and of the Old Harbour, and the rebuilding of
Teatro Carlo Felice
The Teatro Carlo Felice is the principal opera house of Genoa, Italy, used for performances of opera, ballet, orchestral music, and recitals. It is located on the side of Piazza De Ferrari.
The hall is named for King Carlo Felice, and dates fr ...
, destroyed by bombing in the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, were two more points of strength for the realisation of a new Genoa.
Genoa could not renounce, especially as from the 1960s, to a great renewal, which as happened in several other metropolis, should necessarily get through the realisation of big
public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, de ...
complexes, whose quality, utility and functionality has been and still is controversial for those residents living there. Concerning this, the most known cases are those of the so-called "Biscione", a development in the shape of a long snake, situated on the hills of the populous district of Marassi, and the one of the group of houses known as "Le Lavatrici" (the washing machines), in the district of Prà.
Beyond a complete restyling of the area, the ancient port zone nearby the Mandraccio opening, in Porta Siberia, was enriched by Genoese architect
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2 ...
with a large sphere made of metal and glass, installed in the port's waters, not far from the Aquarium of Genoa, and unveiled in 2001 in occasion of the G8 Summit held in Genoa. The sphere (called by the citizens "Piano's bubble" or "The Ball"), after hosting an exposition of fens from Genoa's Botanical Gardens, currently houses the reconstruction of a tropical environment, with several plants, little animals and butterflies.
Piano also designed the subway stations and, in the hills area, the construction – in collaboration with
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
– of Punta Nave, base of the
Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Renzo, the diminutive of Lorenzo, is an Italian masculine given name and a surname.
Given name
Notable people named Renzo include the following:
* Renzo Alverà (1933–2005), Italian bobsledder
*Renzo Arbore (born 1937), Italian TV host, sho ...
.
Nearby the Old Harbour is the so-called " Matitone", a skyscraper in shape of a pencil, that lays side by side with the group of the WTC towers, core of the San Benigno development, today base of part of the Municipality's administration and of several companies.
Santa Maria di Castello
Santa Maria di Castello is a church and religious complex in Genoa, Italy. Administrated for a long time by the Dominicans, it is located in the ''Castello'' hill of the city, where in the Middle Ages a bishop's fortified castle existed. The chu ...
Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato
The Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato is the Catholic cathedral of Genoa, northern Italy; its decoration employed the major baroque studios and artists in Genoa in the 17th century.
It is named ''Vastato'' because the area where it ...
San Siro
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums ...
Sovereign Military Order of Malta
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...
. These churches and basilicas are built in Romanesque (San Donato, Santa Maria di Castello, Commenda di San Giovanni di Pré), Gothic (San Matteo, Santo Stefano, Sant'Agostino), Baroque (San Siro) or Renaissance (Santa Maria Assunta di Carignano, San Pietro in Banchi) appearance, or a mix of different styles (Nostra Signora della Consolazione, Santissima Annunziata del Vastato; this last has a Baroque interior and a Neoclassicist façade).
Another well known Genoese church is the shrine of
Saint Francis of Paola
Francis of Paola, O.M., (or: Francesco di Paola or Francis the Fire Handler; 27 March 1416 – 2 April 1507) was an Italian mendicant friar and the founder of the Roman Catholic Order of Minims. Unlike the majority of founders of men's religiou ...
, notable for the outer courtyard overlooking the port and the memorial to all those who died at sea. This church is of artistic mention in that the tile depictions of the Via Crucis Stations along the brick path to the church.
Near Genoa is found the Shrine of Nostra Signora della Guardia, (the sanctuary is said to have inspired the writer
Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel ''The Name of th ...
in making his novel
The Name of the Rose
''The Name of the Rose'' ( it, Il nome della rosa ) is the 1980 debut novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, and an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in ficti ...
). Another interesting church in the neighborhoods of Genoa is San Siro di Struppa.
The city was the birthplace of several popes (
Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV ( la, Innocentius IV; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254.
Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universitie ...
,
Adrian V
Pope Adrian V (Latin: ''Adrianus V''; c. 1210/1220 – 18 August 1276), born Ottobuono de' Fieschi, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 July 1276 to his death on 18 August 1276. He was an envoy of Pope Cl ...
,
Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII ( la, Innocentius VIII; it, Innocenzo VIII; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death in July 1492. Son of t ...
Syrus of Genoa
Saint Syrus of Genoa ( it, San Siro di Genova) (died around June 29, 381 AD) was a priest and later bishop of Genoa during the fourth century AD.
Life
Born at Struppa, a neighborhood of Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the ca ...
,
Romulus of Genoa
Saint Romulus of Genoa (also Remo; Italian: Romolo, Ligurian: Rœmu) was an early Bishop of Genoa, around the time of Saint Syrus. His dates are uncertain: since Jacobus de Voragine traditional lists compiled from local liturgies generally plac ...
Giovanni Paolo Oliva
Giovanni Paolo Oliva (4 October 1600 – 26 November 1681) was the eleventh Superior General of the Society of Jesus.
Biography
Oliva was born at Genoa in 1600, and in 1616 he entered the Society of Jesus. A famous pulpit orator, he was an Apos ...
, the
Superior General of the Society of Jesus
The superior general of the Society of Jesus is the leader of the Society of Jesus, the Catholic religious order also known as the Jesuits. He is generally addressed as Father General. The position sometimes carries the nickname of the Black Po ...
Francesco Repetto
Monsignor Francesco Repetto ( Genoa, 1914–1984) was an Italian priest and librarian. He is honored by Jews as a Righteous Among the Nations for his leading role in the clandestine DELASEM organization, which contributed to the saving of thousan ...
,
Giuseppe Dossetti
Giuseppe Dossetti (13 February 1913 – 15 December 1996) was an Italian jurist, a politician, and from 1958 onward, a Catholic priest.
Political career
Dossetti was born in Genoa, the son of a piedmontese pharmacist and a mother from Regg ...
,
Gianni Baget Bozzo
Gianni Baget Bozzo (8 March 1925 – 8 May 2009) was an Italian Catholic priest and politician.
Baget Bozzo was born in Savona and raised in Genoa where he graduated in law. At one-time Christian-Democrat activist, in 1984 he was electe ...
, and Andrea Gallo. The present archbishop of Genoa, Cardinal
Angelo Bagnasco
Angelo Bagnasco (; born 14 January 1943) is an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Genoa from 2006 to 2020. He was President of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) from 2007 to 2017 and was elevated to the rank of ...
, comes from a Genoese family but was born in Pontevico, near
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and '' comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...
(see also
Archdiocese of Genoa
The Archdiocese of Genoa ( la, Archidioecesis Ianuensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy. Erected in the 3rd century, it was elevated to an archdiocese on 20 March 1133. The archdiocese of ...
).
Buildings and palaces
The main features of central Genoa include the
Piazza De Ferrari
Piazza De Ferrari is the main square of Genoa. Situated in the heart of the city between the historical and the modern center, Piazza De Ferrari is renowned for its fountain, which was restored in recent years along with a major restyling of the ...
, around which are the
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
Palazzo di San Giorgio
The Palazzo San Giorgio or Palace of St. George (also known as the Palazzo delle Compere di San Giorgio) is a palace in Genoa, Italy. It is situated in the Piazza Caricamento.
The palace was built in 1260 by Guglielmo Boccanegra, uncle of Simone ...
was the headquarters of the
Bank of Saint George
The Bank of Saint George ( it, Casa delle compere e dei banchi di San Giorgio or informally as ''Ufficio di San Giorgio'' or ''Banco'') was a financial institution of the Republic of Genoa. It was founded in 1407 to consolidate the public debt ...
and was the place where
Marco Polo
Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in '' The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...
and
Rustichello da Pisa
Rustichello da Pisa, also known as Rusticiano (fl. late 13th century), was an Italian romance writer in Franco-Italian language. He is best known for co-writing Marco Polo's autobiography, '' The Travels of Marco Polo'', while they were in pris ...
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
is said to have lived as a child. The current building is an 18th-century reconstruction of the original which was destroyed by the French naval bombing of 1684.
Strada Nuova (now Via Garibaldi), in the old city, was inscribed on the
World Heritage List
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
in 2006. This district was designed in the mid-16th century to accommodate Mannerist palaces of the city's most eminent families. In Genoa there are 114 noble palaces (see also Rolli di Genova): among these 42 are inscribed on the
World Heritage List
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
Palazzo Rosso
The Palazzo Brignole Sale or Palazzo Rosso is a house museum located in Via Garibaldi, in the historical center of Genoa, in Northwestern Italy. The palace is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the P ...
Palazzo Reale
This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent.
Africa
* Abdin Palace, Cairo
* Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo
* Koubbeh Palace, Cairo
* Tahra Palace, Cairo
* Menelik Palace
* Jubilee Palace
* Guenete Leul Palace
* Imperial Palace- Mas ...
Palazzo Cicala
The Palazzo Cicala is a 16th-century palace in Genoa. It has served as residences for several and as a business office. It is now a hotel.
History
The palace dates back to the mid-16th century, when it belonged to the aristocratic Cicala fam ...
. Palazzo Bianco and Palazzo Rosso are also known as Musei di Strada Nuova. The famous art college is also located on this street. The Genoese artistic renaissance begins with the construction of commissioned by
Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria, Prince of Melfi (; lij, Drîa Döia ; 30 November 146625 November 1560) was a Genoese statesman, ', and admiral, who played a key role in the Republic of Genoa during his lifetime.
As the ruler of Genoa, Doria reformed the Rep ...
Perino del Vaga
Perino (or Perin) del Vaga (nickname of Piero Bonaccorsi) (1501 – October 19, 1547) was an Italian painter and draughtsman of the Late Renaissance/ Mannerism.
Biography
Perino was born near Florence. His father ruined himself by gambling, ...
and the garden fountain was realised by
Taddeo Carlone
Taddeo Carlone (died 25 March 1613) was a Swiss-Italian sculptor and architect.
His father, Giovanni, was a sculptor from Como. A native of Rovio, in Ticino, he moved with his father to Genoa. Taddeo's brother Giuseppe was a sculptor with his ...
. In 1548 Galeazzo Alessi, with the project of , designed a new prototype of Genoese palace that would be an inspiration to other architects working in Genoa as
Bartolomeo Bianco
Bartolomeo Bianco (1590 – 1657) was an Italian architect of the early Baroque.
Born at Como, he was the designer of several palaces in Genoa, where he moved to follow his father, also an architect. His works include the building which is now ...
, Pietro Antonio Corradi, Rocco Lurago, Giovan Battista Castello, and Bernardino Cantone.
Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradit ...
wrote
Palazzi di Genova
''Palazzi di Genova'' is a 1622 book written and illustrated by Peter Paul Rubens, depicting and describing the palaces of Genoa, Italy in 72 plates. A second volume with 67 further plates was added the same year, and they are usually found (and r ...
in 1622, a book dedicated to the palaces of Genoa.
Scattered around the city are many villas, built between the fifteenth and the twentieth centuries. Among the best known are: , Villa Durazzo-Pallavicini, , , , Villa Giustiniani-Cambiaso, , , , , Villa Rosazza, ,
Villa delle Peschiere
Villa Pallavicino delle Peschiere is a 16th-century villa in Genoa, Northwestern Italy, built in 1560 for the nobleman Tobia Pallavicino. It is situated in via San Bartolomeo degli Armeni 25, in the quarter of Castelletto, in an area that, at the ...
, , , and .
As it regards the 19th century remember the architects Ignazio Gardella (senior), and
Carlo Barabino
Carlo Barabino (February 11, 1768 – September 3, 1835) was a prominent Italy, Italian architect of the Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassic period, active mainly in his native Genoa. He was a pupil of Giuseppe Barbieri. He designed the origin ...
which among other things, realises together with Giovanni Battista Resasco, the
Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno
The Cimitero monumentale di Staglieno is an extensive monumental cemetery located on a hillside in the district of Staglieno of Genoa, Italy, famous for its monumental sculpture. Covering an area of more than a square kilometre, it is one of the ...
. The cemetery is renowned for its statues and sepulchral monuments that preserve the mortal remains of notable personalities, including Giuseppe Mazzini,
Fabrizio De André
Fabrizio Cristiano De André (; 18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter, the most prominent ''cantautore'' of his time. His 40-year career reflects his interests in concept albums, literature, poetry, political pr ...
, and Constance Lloyd (Oscar Wilde's wife). In the first half of the 19th century they are completed the and the . In 1901 realised the ''Silos Granari''.
The city is rich in testimony of the
Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
like
Albertis Castle
D'Albertis Castle ( it, Castello d'Albertis) is a historical residence in Genoa, north-western Italy. It was the home of sea captain Enrico Alberto d'Albertis, and was donated to the city of Genoa on his death in 1932. It currently houses the ...
, , and
Mackenzie Castle
The Mackenzie Castle (Italian: ''Castello Mackenzie'') is a historical manor in the Castelletto quarter of Genoa, northern Italy. It is an example of Gothic Revival architecture.
Registered as a cultural spaceGino Coppedè
Luigi "Gino" Coppedè (26 September 1866 – 20 September 1927) was an Italian architect, sculptor and decorator. He was an exponent of Art Nouveau.
Biography
Coppedè was born in Florence, a son of Mariano Coppedè and brother of Adolfo Co ...
. Genoa is also rich of
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
works, among which: , , Hotel Bristol Palace, and . Works of Rationalist architecture of the first half of the 20th century are Torre Piacentini and Piazza della Vittoria where
Arco della Vittoria
The ''Arco della Vittoria'' (Victory Arch), also known as ''Monumento ai Caduti'' or ''Arco dei Caduti'' (Arch of the Fallen), is a memorial arch located in in Genoa, Italy. It is dedicated to the Genoese who died during World War I, and it was ...
, both designed by the architect Marcello Piacentini. Other architects who have changed the face of Genoa in the 20th century are: Ignazio Gardella, who realised the Piazza Rossetti and the residential complex so-called , ,
Aldo Rossi
Aldo Rossi (3 May 1931 – 4 September 1997) was an Italian architect and designer who achieved international recognition in four distinct areas: architectural theory, drawing and design and also product design. He was one of the leading expone ...
Palazzo Rosso
The Palazzo Brignole Sale or Palazzo Rosso is a house museum located in Via Garibaldi, in the historical center of Genoa, in Northwestern Italy. The palace is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the P ...
, and . The Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art, designed by Mario Labò, has one of the largest collections of Oriental art in Europe.
Other notable architectural works include: the Old Harbour's new design with the
Aquarium
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
, the and the by
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2 ...
Ponte Morandi
(English: Morandi Bridge), officially (English: Polcevera Viaduct), was a road viaduct in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, constructed between 1963 and 1967 along the A10 motorway over the Polcevera River, from which it derived its official name. It c ...
by Riccardo Morandi, built in 1967, collapsed in 2018 and demolished February–June 2019.
Old Harbour
The Old Harbour ("Porto Antico" in Italian) is the ancient part of the port of Genoa. The harbour gave access to outside communities creating a good geographical situation for the city.Shaw, C. (2012). Genoa. In A. Gamberini & I. Lazzarini (Eds.). ''The Italian Renaissance State''. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press The city is spread out geographically along a section of the Liguria coast, which makes trading by ship possible. Before the development of car, train, and airplane travel, the main outside access for the city was the sea, as the surrounding mountains made trade north by land more difficult than coastal trade. Trade routes have always connected Genoa on an international scale, with increasingly farther reach starting from trade along Europe's coastline before the medieval period to today's connection across continents. In its heyday the Genoese Navy was a prominent power in the Mediterranean.
As the Genoa harbour was so important to the merchants for their own economic success, other nearby harbours and ports were seen as competition for a landing point for foreign traders. In the 16th century, the Genovese worked to destroy the local shipping competition, the Savona harbour. Taking matters into their own hands, the Genoa merchants and the politically powerful in Genoa attacked the harbour of Savona with stones. This action was taken to preserve the economic stability and wealth of the city during the rise in prominence of Savona. The Genovese would go as far as to war with other coastal, trading cities such as Venice, in order to protect the trade industry.
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2 ...
redeveloped the area for public access, restoring the historical buildings (like the Cotton warehouses) and creating new landmarks like the Aquarium, the Bigo and recently the "Bolla" (the Sphere). The main touristic attractions of this area are the famous Aquarium and the Museum of the Sea (MuMA). In 2007 these attracted almost 1.7 million visitors.
Walls and fortresses
The city of Genoa during its long history at least since the ninth century had been protected by different lines of
defensive wall
A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
s. Large portions of these walls remain today, and Genoa has more and longer walls than any other city in Italy. The main
city walls
A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
are known as "Ninth century walls", "Barbarossa Walls" (12th century), "Fourteenth century walls", "Sixteenth century walls" and "New Walls" ("Mura Nuove" in Italian). The more imposing walls, built in the first half of the 17th century on the ridge of hills around the city, have a length of almost . Some fortresses stand along the perimeter of the "New Walls" or close them.
Parks
Genoa has of public parks in the city centre, such as Villetta Di Negro which is right in the heart of the town, overlooking the historical centre. Many bigger green spaces are situated outside the centre: in the east are the Parks of Nervi () overlooking the sea, in the west the beautiful gardens of Villa Durazzo Pallavicini and its
Giardino botanico Clelia Durazzo Grimaldi
The Giardino botanico Clelia Durazzo Grimaldi is a small botanical garden located on the grounds of the Villa Durazzo-Pallavicini in Pegli, a suburb of Genoa, Italy. It is a part of the romantic historical park made by Ignazio Pallavicini in ...
(). The numerous villas and palaces of the city also have their own gardens, like Palazzo del Principe, Villa Doria, Palazzo Bianco and Palazzo Tursi, Palazzo Nicolosio Lomellino,
Albertis Castle
D'Albertis Castle ( it, Castello d'Albertis) is a historical residence in Genoa, north-western Italy. It was the home of sea captain Enrico Alberto d'Albertis, and was donated to the city of Genoa on his death in 1932. It currently houses the ...
Ligurian Sea Cetacean Sanctuary
Originally called the International Ligurian Sea Cetacean Sanctuary (Ligurian Sea Sanctuary), what is now known as the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals is a Marine Protected Area aimed at the protection of marine mammals (cetacean ...
aquarium
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
in Italy and among the largest in Europe. Built for Genoa Expo '92, it is an educational, scientific and cultural centre. Its mission is to educate and raise public awareness as regards conservation, management and responsible use of aquatic environments. It welcomes over 1.2 million visitors a year.
Control of the entire environment, including the temperature, filtration and lighting of the tanks was provided by local Automation Supplier Orsi Automazione, acquired in 2001 by
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...
.
The Aquarium of Genoa is co-ordinating the AquaRing EU project. It also provides scientific expertise and a great deal of content for AquaRing, including documents, images, academic content and interactive online courses, via its Online Resource Centre.
Demographics
At the beginning of 2011, there were 608,493 people residing in Genoa, of whom 47% were male and 53% were female. The city is characterised by rapid aging and a long history of demographic decline, that has shown a partial slowdown in the last decade. Genoa has the lowest birth rate and is the most aged of any large Italian city. Minors (children ages 18 and younger) totalled only 14.12% of the population compared to pensioners who number 26.67%. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06% (minors) and 19.94% (pensioners). The median age of Genoa's residents is 47, compared to the Italian average of 42. The current birth rate of the city is only 7.49 births per 1,000 inhabitants, compared to the national average of 9.45.
Economy
The Genoa metropolitan area had a GDP amounting to $30.1 billion in 2011, or $33,003 per capita.
Ligurian agriculture has increased its specialisation pattern in high-quality products (flowers,
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...
,
olive oil
Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: ...
) and has thus managed to maintain the gross value-added per worker at a level much higher than the national average (the difference was about 42% in 1999). The value of flower production represents over 75% of the agriculture sector turnover, followed by animal farming (11.2%) and vegetable growing (6.4%).
Steel, once a major industry during the booming 1950s and 1960s, phased out after the late 1980s crisis, as Italy moved away from the heavy industry to pursue more technologically advanced and less polluting productions. So the Ligurian industry has turned towards a widely diversified range of high-quality and high-tech products (food, shipbuilding (in Sestri Ponente and in metropolitan area – Sestri Levante), electrical engineering and electronics, petrochemicals, aerospace etc.). Nonetheless, the regions still maintains a flourishing shipbuilding sector (yacht construction and maintenance, cruise liner building, military shipyards).
In the services sector, the gross value-added per worker in Liguria is 4% above the national average. This is due to the increasing diffusion of modern technologies, particularly in commerce and tourism.
A good motorway network ( in 2000) makes communications with the border regions relatively easy. The main motorway is located along the coastline, connecting the main ports of Nice (in France), Savona, Genoa and La Spezia. The number of passenger cars per 1000 inhabitants (524 in 2001) is below the national average (584).
On average, about 17 million tonnes of cargo are shipped from the main ports of the region and about 57 million tonnes enter the region. The Port of Genoa, with a trade volume of 58.6 million tonnes ranks first in Italy, second in terms of
twenty-foot equivalent units
The twenty-foot equivalent unit (abbreviated TEU or teu) is an inexact unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports.Rowlett, 2004. It is based on the volume of a intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box whic ...
after the transshipment port of Gioia Tauro, with a trade volume of over 2 million TEUs. The main destinations for the cargo-passenger traffic are Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands.
Some companies based in Genoa include Ansaldo STS,
Ansaldo Energia
Ansaldo Energia S.p.A. is an Italian power engineering company. It is based in Genoa, Italy. The absorbed parent company, Gio. Ansaldo & C., started in 1853. It was taken over by Leonardo S.p.A. In 2011, Leonardo S.p.A. sold 45% stake in ...
,
Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone
ERG S.p.A. is a publicly listed Italian energy company, founded in 1938, and based in Genoa, Italy.
History
ERG was founded by Edoardo Guida Garrone in 1938, founding a company for the refining of petroleum. In 1952, ERG signs an agreement to ...
,
Piaggio Aerospace
Piaggio Aerospace, formerly Piaggio Aero Industries, is a multinational aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Villanova d'Albenga, Italy. The company designs, develops, manufactures and maintains aircraft, aero-engines, aerospace c ...
,
Registro Italiano Navale
RINA is a private, multinational company headquartered in Genoa, Italy. It was founded in 1861 under the name Registro Italiano Navale (''Italian Naval Register'').
That same year, following the enforcement of a 1994 European Council directive r ...
,
Banca Carige
Banca Carige S.p.A., historically known as Cassa di Risparmio di Genova e Imperia (Ca.Ri.Ge.) is an Italian bank based in Genoa, with more than 500 bank branches in Italy. The predecessor of the bank, a mount of piety, was founded in 1483 in ...
Costa Cruises
S.p.A. (), operating as Costa Cruises, is an Italian cruise line founded in 1854 and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc since 2000. Based in Genoa, Italy, the cruise line primarily caters to the Italian crui ...
.
Education
The first organised forms of higher education in Genoa date back to the 13th century when private colleges were entitled to award degrees in medicine, Philosophy, Theology, Law, Arts.
Today the
University of Genoa
The University of Genoa, known also with the acronym UniGe ( it, Università di Genova), is one of the largest universities in Italy. It is located in the city of Genoa and regional Metropolitan City of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Ligur ...
, founded in the 15th century, is one of the largest in Italy, with 11 faculties, 51 departments and 14 libraries. In 2007–2008, the university had 41,000 students and 6,540 graduates.
Genoa is also home to other Colleges, Academies or Museums:
* The
University of Genoa
The University of Genoa, known also with the acronym UniGe ( it, Università di Genova), is one of the largest universities in Italy. It is located in the city of Genoa and regional Metropolitan City of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Ligur ...
* The CNR Area della Ricerca di Genova
* The
Accademia ligustica di belle arti
The Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti is a tertiary academy of fine arts located in Genoa, Italy. It also houses a museum (Museo dell'Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti), which includes works of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, Giuseppe Abbati, Ant ...
* The Accademia Ligure di scienze e lettere
* The Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
* The ISICT-istituto superiore di studi in tecnologie dell'informazione e della comunicazione
* The
Renzo Piano Building Workshop
Renzo, the diminutive of Lorenzo, is an Italian masculine given name and a surname.
Given name
Notable people named Renzo include the following:
* Renzo Alverà (1933–2005), Italian bobsledder
*Renzo Arbore (born 1937), Italian TV host, sho ...
* The
OBR Open Building Research In 2000 Paolo Brescia and Tommaso Principi established the collective OBR to investigate new ways of contemporary living, creating a design network among Milan, London and New York.
After working with Renzo Piano, Paolo and Tommaso have oriented th ...
* The Accademia Italiana della Marina Mercantile
* The " Niccolò Paganini" Conservatory
* The Italian Hydrographic Institute
* The
Deledda International School
Deledda International School is a semi-private English-speaking school in Genoa, Italy. Despite being an independent school, the school is helped by the government of the Comune di Genova. It is not affiliated with the public school "Liceo Ling ...
Italian Minister of Economy and Finance
The Italian Minister of Economy and Finance ( it, Ministro dell'Economia e delle Finanze) is a senior member of the Italian Cabinet who leads the Ministry of Economy and Finance since its creation in 2001 by the fusion of three former ministri ...
, to promote excellence in basic and applied research. The main fields of research of the Institute are
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the science, scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a Multidisciplinary approach, multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, an ...
,
Robotics
Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...
,
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal ...
,
Drug discovery
In the fields of medicine, biotechnology and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which new candidate medications are discovered.
Historically, drugs were discovered by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or b ...
. The central research labs and headquarters are located in Morego, in the neighbourhood of Bolzaneto.
Clemson University
Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...
, based in
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
, United States has a villa in Genoa where architecture students and students in related fields can attend for a semester or year-long study program.
Florida International University
Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florid ...
(FIU), based in
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
, United States also has a small campus in Genoa, with the
University of Genoa
The University of Genoa, known also with the acronym UniGe ( it, Università di Genova), is one of the largest universities in Italy. It is located in the city of Genoa and regional Metropolitan City of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Ligur ...
Vincentio Reinieri
Vincentio (Vincenzio, Vincenzo) Reinieri (Renieri, Reiner) (30 March 1606 – 5 November 1647) was an Italian mathematician and astronomer. He was a friend and disciple of Galileo Galilei.
Biography
Born at Genoa, he was a member of the Olivetan ...
Riccardo Giacconi
Riccardo Giacconi ( , ; October 6, 1931 – December 9, 2018) was an Italian-American Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist who laid down the foundations of X-ray astronomy. He was a professor at the Johns Hopkins University.
Biography
Born ...
Enrico Alberto d'Albertis
Enrico Alberto d'Albertis (23 March 1846 – 3 March 1932) was an Italian navigator, writer, philologist, ethnologist and philanthropist. His cousin Luigi Maria d'Albertis was also an explorer and naturalists.
Biography
Born at Voltri, now part ...
,
Giacomo Doria
Marquis Giacomo Doria (1 November 1840 – 19 September 1913) was an Italian naturalist, botanist, herpetologist, and politician.
He was the founder of the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale in Genoa in 1867, and director from then until his ...
and
Arturo Issel
Arturo Issel (Genoa April 11, 1842 – Genoa November 27, 1922) was an Italian geologist, palaeontologist, malacologist and archaeologist, born in Genoa. He is noted for first defining the Tyrrhenian Stage in 1914. Issel was also renowned at th ...
, we point the
Orto Botanico dell'Università di Genova
The Orto Botanico dell'Università di Genova (1 hectare), also known as the Orto Botanico di Genova, is a botanical garden operated by the University of Genoa, and located at Corso Dogali, Genoa, Liguria, Italy.
The garden was established in 180 ...
. Very important and renowned is the Istituto Giannina Gaslini.
In 1846 the city hosted the eighth Meeting of Italian Scientists and in 1902 Luigi Carnera discovered an asteroid and called it " 485 Genua", dedicating it to the Latin name of Genoa.
high-tech
High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...
corporations
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...
,
Ericsson
(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in inform ...
robotics
Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...
laboratories
A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physi ...
science park
A science park (also called a "university research park", "technology park”, "technopark", “technopole", or a "science and technology park" (STP)) is defined as being a property-based development that accommodates and fosters the growt ...
is undergoing a process of enlargement, and in the future will host the new Faculty of
Engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
of
University of Genoa
The University of Genoa, known also with the acronym UniGe ( it, Università di Genova), is one of the largest universities in Italy. It is located in the city of Genoa and regional Metropolitan City of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Ligur ...
. The project has been struggling in recent years with enterprises laying off their employees and no real growth.
Transport
Ports
Several cruise and ferry lines serve the passenger terminals in the old port, with a traffic of 3.2 million passengers in 2007.
MSC Cruises
MSC Cruises ( it, MSC Crociere) is an Italian global cruise line registered in Switzerland and based in Geneva, with operations offices in Naples, Genoa and Venice. It was founded in 1989 in Naples, Italy, as part of the Mediterranean Shipping ...
chose Genoa as one of its main home ports, in competition with the Genoese company
Costa Cruises
S.p.A. (), operating as Costa Cruises, is an Italian cruise line founded in 1854 and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc since 2000. Based in Genoa, Italy, the cruise line primarily caters to the Italian crui ...
, which moved its home port to
Savona
Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea.
Savona used to be one of the chie ...
. The quays of the passenger terminals extend over an area of , with 5 equipped berths for cruise vessels and 13 for ferries, for an annual capacity of 4 million ferry passengers, 1.5 million cars and 250,000 trucks.
The historical maritime station of Ponte dei Mille is today a technologically advanced cruise terminal, with facilities designed after the world's most modern airports, to ensure fast embarking and disembarking of latest generation ships carrying thousand passengers. A third cruise terminal is currently under construction in the redesigned area of Ponte Parodi, once a quay used for grain traffic.
The ''
Costa Concordia
''Costa Concordia'' () was a cruise ship operated by Costa Crociere. She was the first of her class, followed by sister ships '' Costa Serena'', '' Costa Pacifica'', '' Costa Favolosa'' and '' Costa Fascinosa'', and ''Carnival Splendor'' built ...
'' cruise ship, owned by Costa Cruises, was docked at the port before being dismantled.
Air transport
The Airport of Genoa (Italian: Aeroporto di Genova) also named Christopher Columbus Airport (Italian: Aeroporto Cristoforo Colombo) is built on an artificial peninsula, west of the city. The airport is currently operated by Aeroporto di Genova S.P.A., which has recently upgraded the airport complex, that now connects Genoa with several daily flights to Rome, Naples, Paris, London, Madrid and Munich. In 2008, 1,202,168 passengers travelled through the airport, with an increase of international destinations and charter flights.
Public transport
The main railway stations are Genoa Brignole in the east and Genoa Principe in the west. Genoa Brignole is close to the business districts and the exhibition centre, while the Principe is close to the port, the university and the historical centre. From these two stations depart the main trains connecting Genoa to France, Turin, Milan and Rome.
Genoa's third most important station is Genoa Sampierdarena, which serves the densely populated neighbourhood of Sampierdarena. 23 other local stations serve the other neighbourhoods on the 30-kilometre-long coast line from Nervi to Voltri and on the northern line through Bolzaneto and the Polcevera Valley.
The municipal administration of Genoa plans to transform these urban railway lines to be part of the rapid transit system, which now consists of the ''Metropolitana di Genova'' (
Genoa Metro
__NOTOC__
The Genoa Metro ( it, Metropolitana di Genova) is a rapid transit consisting of a single line that connects the centre of Genoa, Italy with the suburb of Rivarolo Ligure, to the north-west of the city centre. The service is currentl ...
), a light metro connecting Brin to the city centre. The metro line was extended to Brignole Station in December 2012. Trains currently pass through Corvetto station between De Ferrari and Brignole without stopping. A possible further extension towards the eastern, densely populated boroughs was planned, but the municipal administration intends to improve the public transport by investing in new tram lines instead of completing the extension of the light metro. The current stations of the metro line are Brin-Certosa, Dinegro, Principe, Darsena, San Giorgio, Sant'Agostino and De Ferrari, and the line is long.
The city's hilly nature has influenced its public transport. The city is served by two
funicular railway
A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...
s (the
Zecca–Righi funicular
The Zecca–Righi funicular ( it, Funicolare Zecca–Righi) is a funicular railway in the Italian city of Genoa connecting the ''Largo della Zecca'', on the edge of the historic city centre, to several stations on the slope of the Righi hill ...
, the
Sant'Anna funicular
The Sant'Anna funicular ( it, Funicolare Sant'Anna) is a funicular railway in the Italian city of Genoa connecting the ''Piazza Portello'', on the edge of the historic city centre, to the ''Corso Magenta''. The line is one of several true funic ...
Principe–Granarolo rack railway
The Principe–Granarolo rack railway ( it, Ferrovia Principe-Granarolo) is a rack railway in the Italy, Italian Genoa, city of Genoa that connects ''via del Lagaccio'', near the Genoa Piazza Principe railway station, to the . The line is sometime ...
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...
network is operated by
AMT
Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...
(Azienda Mobilità e Trasporti S.p.A.). The Drin Bus is a
demand responsive transport
Demand-responsive transport (DRT), also known as demand-responsive transit, demand-responsive service, US National Trans ...
service that connects the hilly, low-density areas of Genoa.
The average time people spend commuting on public transit in Genova, for example to and from work, is 54 min on a weekday. 10% of public transit riders ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 12 min, while 13% of riders wait over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 4 km, while 2% travel for over 12 km in a single direction.
Culture
Visual arts
Genoese painters active in the 14th century include
Barnaba da Modena
Barnaba da Modena (c. 1328-c.1386) was a mid-14th-century Italian painter who painted in the style of Byzantine art.Raimond Van Marle, ''The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting'', Springer Science & Business Media, 2012, p. 382-383 He ...
and his local followers
Nicolò da Voltri
Nicolò da Voltri was an Italian painter who was active in Genoa from 1394 to 1417. He was the most important native painter in Liguria, a coastal region of northwestern Italy. His early development took place, probably in the 1370s, in the c ...
and at the same time, the sculptor Giovanni Pisano reached Genoa to make the monument for Margaret of Brabant, whose remains are today housed in the .
In the 16th century along with the flourishing trade between the Republic of Genoa and Flanders also grew the cultural exchanges. The painters Lucas and
Cornelis de Wael
Cornelis de Wael (Antwerp, 1592 – Rome, 1667) was a Flemish painter, engraver and merchant who was primarily active in Genoa in Italy. He is known for his genre paintings, battle scenes, history paintings and still lifes. Through his art w ...
lived in Genoa for a long time, where they played the role of a magnet for many Flemish painters like Jaan Roos, Giacomo Legi,
Jan Matsys
Jan Massijs or Jan Matsys (c.1510 – 8 October 1575) was a Flemish Renaissance painter known for his history paintings, genre scenes and landscapes. He also gained a reputation as a painter of the female nude, which he painted with a sensu ...
,
Andries van Eertvelt
Andries van Eertvelt (1590 – 1652), was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver who was one of the first Flemish artists to specialize in marine art. Several of his pupils also became prominent marine artists.Vincent Malo
Vincent Malo or Vincent Malo I (Cambrai c. 1602 or 1606 – Rome, 14 April 1644) was a Flemish painter who after training and working in Antwerp was mainly active in Italy, where he was known, amongst others, as Vincenzo Malo, Vincenzo Malò ...
.
This creative environment also attracted the two most important Flemish painters,
Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...
and Van Dyck, who along with Bernardo Strozzi. gave life to the Genoese Painting School of the 17th century.
Much of the city's art is found in its churches and palaces, where there are numerous Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo frescos. They are rich in works of art the
Cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...
Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...
, the ''Assunzione della Vergine'' by
Guido Reni
Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religi ...
Barnaba da Modena
Barnaba da Modena (c. 1328-c.1386) was a mid-14th-century Italian painter who painted in the style of Byzantine art.Raimond Van Marle, ''The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting'', Springer Science & Business Media, 2012, p. 382-383 He ...
,
Nicolò da Voltri
Nicolò da Voltri was an Italian painter who was active in Genoa from 1394 to 1417. He was the most important native painter in Liguria, a coastal region of northwestern Italy. His early development took place, probably in the 1370s, in the c ...
Filippo Parodi
Filippo Parodi (1630 – 22 July 1702) was an Italian sculptor of the Baroque period, "Genoa's first and greatest native Baroque sculptor".
Biography
Born in Genoa into a family of sculptors, Parodi developed his facility with wood, then tr ...
Santa Maria di Castello
Santa Maria di Castello is a church and religious complex in Genoa, Italy. Administrated for a long time by the Dominicans, it is located in the ''Castello'' hill of the city, where in the Middle Ages a bishop's fortified castle existed. The chu ...
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of h ...
Palazzo Rosso
The Palazzo Brignole Sale or Palazzo Rosso is a house museum located in Via Garibaldi, in the historical center of Genoa, in Northwestern Italy. The palace is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the P ...
Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...
and by
Antonello da Messina
Antonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio, but also called Antonello degli Antoni and Anglicized as Anthony of Messina ( 1430February 1479), was an Italian painter from Messina, active during the Early Italian Renaissance. ...
Palazzo Reale
This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent.
Africa
* Abdin Palace, Cairo
* Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo
* Koubbeh Palace, Cairo
* Tahra Palace, Cairo
* Menelik Palace
* Jubilee Palace
* Guenete Leul Palace
* Imperial Palace- Mas ...
Tintoretto
Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed wit ...
Valerio Castello
Valerio Castello (1624October 1659) born in Genoa, was an Italian painter of the Baroque period and one of the pre-eminent Ligurian painters of his time. His art drew inspiration from a wide range of sources. He painted on canvas and fresco.Mar ...
,
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (baptized 23 March 16095 May 1664) was an Italian Baroque painter, printmaker and draftsman, of the Genoese school. He is best known now for his etchings, and as the inventor of the printmaking technique of monoty ...
Giovanni Battista Gaulli
Giovanni Battista Gaulli (8 May 1639 – 2 April 1709), also known as Baciccio or Baciccia (Genoese nicknames for ''Giovanni Battista''), was an Italian artist working in the High Baroque and early Rococo periods. He is best known for his grand ...
and
Alessandro Magnasco
Alessandro Magnasco (February 4, 1667 – March 12, 1749), also known as il Lissandrino, was an Italian late-Baroque painter active mostly in Milan and Genoa. He is best known for stylized, fantastic, often phantasmagoric genre or landscape sce ...
. Sculptors include
Filippo Parodi
Filippo Parodi (1630 – 22 July 1702) was an Italian sculptor of the Baroque period, "Genoa's first and greatest native Baroque sculptor".
Biography
Born in Genoa into a family of sculptors, Parodi developed his facility with wood, then tr ...
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
.
The famous humanist author, architect, poet and philosopher
Leon Battista Alberti
Leon Battista Alberti (; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. H ...
was born in Genoa on 14 February 1404.
Simonetta Vespucci
Simonetta Vespucci (née Cattaneo; 1453 – 26 April 1476), nicknamed ''la bella Simonetta'', was an Italian noblewoman from Genoa, the wife of Marco Vespucci of Florence and the cousin-in-law of Amerigo Vespucci. She was known as the grea ...
, considered the most beautiful woman of her time, was also born in Genoa. She is portrayed in '' The Birth of Venus'' and Primavera by
Sandro Botticelli
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian Renaissance painting, Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th cent ...
and in ''Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci'' by Piero di Cosimo.
Genoa is also famous for its numerous tapestries, which decorated the city's many salons. Whilst the patrician palaces and villas in the city were and still are austere and majestic, the interiors tended to be luxurious and elaborate, often full of tapestries, many of which were Flemish. Famous is the
Genoese lace
Genoese lace is bobbin lace from Genoa. It is a guipure style of lace.
Bobbin lacemaking in Italy dates back to the 16th century when the main centres were Genoa and Milan, although Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) i ...
called with its name of Turkish origin ''macramè''. Very used in Genoa is the
cobblestone
Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings.
Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fr ...
called ''Risseu'' and a kind of
azulejo
''Azulejo'' (, ; from the Arabic ''al- zillīj'', ) is a form of Spanish and Portuguese painted tin-glazed ceramic tilework. ''Azulejos'' are found on the interior and exterior of churches, palaces, ordinary houses, schools, and nowadays, res ...
called ''laggioni''.
Genoa has been likened by many to a Mediterranean New York, perhaps for its high houses that in the Middle Ages were the equivalent of today's skyscrapers, perhaps for the sea route Genoa-New York which in past centuries has been travelled by millions of emigrants. The architect
Renzo Picasso Renzo Picasso (1880–1975) was an Italian architect, engineer, and urban planner and designer.
He was the author of the early twentieth century utopian projects for the city of Genoa, such as that for the Piazza de Ferrari, which suggested a dev ...
in his visionary designs reinforces this strange affinity between the two cities.
In the
Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno
The Cimitero monumentale di Staglieno is an extensive monumental cemetery located on a hillside in the district of Staglieno of Genoa, Italy, famous for its monumental sculpture. Covering an area of more than a square kilometre, it is one of the ...
, you can admire some magnificent sculpture of the 19th century and early 20th century like
Monteverde Angel
The Monteverde Angel or Angel of the Resurrection (Italian ''Angelo di Monteverde'' and ''Angelo della Resurrezione'') is a masterpiece of neo-classical religious sculpture, created in marble in 1882 by the Italian artist Giulio Monteverde.
...
by
Giulio Monteverde
Giulio Monteverde (8 October 1837 – 3 October 1917) was an Italian naturalist sculptor and teacher.
Biography
Monteverde was born in Bistagno, Italy and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. He later became a professor there.McKay, ...
, or works by artists such as
Augusto Rivalta
Augusto Rivalta (1835 or 1838 – April 14, 1925) was an Italian sculptor.
Biography
Rivalta was born in Alessandria, Italy, to Genoese parents. In 1859, he moved to Florence, but soon swept up in the patriotic events, he volunteered for the ...
Edoardo Alfieri
Edoardo Alfieri (1913 in Foggia, Italy – 1998 in Sanremo, Italy) was an Italian sculptor.
Although he was born at Foggia in southern Italy, his family was of Piemontese origin and soon moved to Genoa, where he spent his childhood. He s ...
, Santo Varni.
Amongst the most notable Genoese painters of the 19th century and of the first half of the 20th century are Tammar Luxoro, Ernesto Rayper, Rubaldo Merello, and Antonio Giuseppe Santagata. The sculptor
Francesco Messina
Francesco Messina (15 December 1900 – 13 September 1995) was an Italian sculpture, sculptor of the 20th century.
Biography and career
Francesco Messina was born at Linguaglossa in the Province of Catania from a very poor family. Growing up in G ...
also grew up in Genoa.
In 1967 the Genoese historian, critic and curator Germano Celant coined the term Arte Povera.
Enrico Accatino
Enrico Accatino (August 20, 1920 – July 16, 2007) was an Italian abstract painter, sculptor, designer, and advocate of a new Italian culture tied to textiles.
He was awarded a gold medal by the President of the Italian Republic for "Benemerit ...
was another important art theorist and
Emanuele Luzzati
Emanuele Luzzati (3 June 1921 – 26 January 2007) was an Italian painter, production designer, illustrator, film director and animator. He was nominated for Academy Awards for two of his short films, ''La gazza ladra'' (''The Thieving Magpi ...
was the production designer and illustrator like Lorenzo Mongiardino, also a production designer and architect. Two other important artists are
Emilio Scanavino
Emilio Scanavino (Genoa, 28 February 1922 – Milan, 28 November 1986) was an Italian painter and sculptor.
Early life
Scanavino was born in Genoa. In 1938 he enrolled to the Art School Nicolò Barabino where he met Mario Calonghi, who was teach ...
Rapallo
Rapallo ( , , ) is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, located in the Liguria region of northern Italy.
As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and Chiav ...
, near Genoa. A notable figure is the illustrator and comics artist
Giovan Battista Carpi
Giovan Battista Carpi (; November 16, 1927 – March 8, 1999) was a prolific Italian comics artist, illustrator, and teacher from Genoa.
Carpi worked mainly for Disney comics, mostly on books featuring Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck, although h ...
.
Literature
"Anonymous of Genoa" was one of the first authors in Liguria and Italy who wrote verses in the Vernacular.
It explained that in Genoa
Marco Polo
Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in '' The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...
and
Rustichello da Pisa
Rustichello da Pisa, also known as Rusticiano (fl. late 13th century), was an Italian romance writer in Franco-Italian language. He is best known for co-writing Marco Polo's autobiography, '' The Travels of Marco Polo'', while they were in pris ...
Gabriello Chiabrera
Gabriello Chiabrera (; 18 June 155214 October 1638) was an Italian poet, sometimes called the Italian Pindar. Endnote: The best editions of Chiabrera are those of Rome (1718, 3 vols. 8vo); of Venice (1731, 4 vols. 8vo); of Leghorn (1781, 5 vols., ...
and "Ansaldo Cebà", the latter best known for his correspondence with
Sara Copia Sullam
Sarra Copia Sullam (1592–1641) was an Italian poet and writer who lived in Italy in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. She was Jewish and very well educated. Despite being married, for many years she had what appears to have been an extrem ...
. The city has been the birthplace of the historian
Caffaro di Rustico da Caschifellone
Caffaro di Rustico da Caschifellone ( 1080 – c. 1164) was a statesman, diplomat, admiral and historian of the Republic of Genoa. Between 1122 and 1149 he served eight terms as a consul. His most enduring work was the ''Annales ianuenses'' ("Genoe ...
Carlo Bo
Carlo Bo (25 January 1911 – 21 July 2001) was an Italian poet, literary critic, distinghuished humanist, a professor and Life senator of Italy (from 1984).
Biography
Bo was born on January 25, 1911, in Sestri Levante, Italy.
From 1929 to ...
instead was born in Sestri Levante near Genoa. We have also remember the dialet poet , the dialect "poeta crepuscolare" Giambattista Vigo, and the symbolist .
The city of Genoa has been an inspiration to many writers and poets among which:
Dino Campana
Dino Campana (20 August 1885 – 1 March 1932) was an Italian visionary poet. His fame rests on his only published book of poetry, the '' Canti Orfici'' ("Orphic Songs"), as well as his wild and erratic personality, including his ill-fated love ...
, , who wrote "The mouth of the wolf" and
Giorgio Caproni
Giorgio Caproni ( Livorno, 7 January 1912 – 22 January 1990, Rome) was an Italian poet, literary critic and translator, especially from French. His work was also part of the literature event in the art competition at the 1948 Summer Olympi ...
. Between the alleys of the historical centre there is the Old Libreria Bozzi. The "Berio Civic Library" houses the precious manuscript entitled "The Durazzo Book of Hours". In the first half of the 20th century, the Mazzini Gallery's was a meeting place of many artists, writers and intellectuals among which
Guido Gozzano
Guido Gustavo Gozzano (19 December 1883 – 9 August 1916) was an Italian poet and writer.
Biography
He was born in Turin, the son of Fausto Gozzano, an engineer, and of Diodata Mautino, the daughter of Senator Mautino, patriot and supporter of ...
Francesco Messina
Francesco Messina (15 December 1900 – 13 September 1995) was an Italian sculpture, sculptor of the 20th century.
Biography and career
Francesco Messina was born at Linguaglossa in the Province of Catania from a very poor family. Growing up in G ...
, , Eugenio Montale. In the thirties of the 20th century was active in Genoa the
Circoli
''Circoli'' was an Italian language bimonthly literary magazine published in Genoa, Italy, between 1931 and 1936. It was described as one of the most distinguished European magazines in 1934.
History and profile
''Circoli'' was started in Genoa ...
magazine and after the World War II the "Il Gallo" magazine. Coveted and known from the 1960s to the 1980s was the Genoese literary lounge animated by the writer . Dutch writer
Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer
Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer (born 17 January 1968) is a Dutch poet, novelist, polemicist and classical scholar. He was born in Rijswijk, Netherlands, and studied, lived and worked in Leiden, and he moved permanently to Genoa, Italy, in 2008.
Bi ...
wrote "La Superba", a novel in which Genoa is prominently featured. This was followed by the autobiographical novel "Brieven uit Genua".
Since 1995, every June in Genoa the Genoa International Poetry Festival takes place, conceived by with the help of Massimo Bacigalupo.
Music
Genoa was a centre of Occitan culture in Italy and for this reason it developed an important school of
troubadour
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a '' trobair ...
s:
Lanfranc Cigala
Lanfranc Cigala (or Cicala) ( it, Lanfranco, oc, Lafranc; fl. 1235–1257) was a Genoese nobleman, knight, judge, and man of letters of the mid thirteenth century. He remains one of the most famous Occitan troubadours of Lombardy. Thirty-two of ...
,
Jacme Grils
Jacme or Iacme Gril(s)Other manuscript variants include ''Iacine'' and ''Grill''. ( it, Giacomo Grillo; fl. 1244–1262) was a Genoa, Genoese troubadour of the mid-thirteenth century. He wrote two ''tensos'' which survive, one with Lanfranc Ci ...
Simon Doria
Simon Doria ( it, Simone, oc, Symon; fl. 1250–1293) was a Genoese statesman and man of letters, of the important Doria family. As a troubadour he wrote six surviving ''tensos'', four with Lanfranc Cigala, one incomplete with Jacme Grils, ...
Camillo Sivori
Ernesto Camillo Sivori, (June 6, 1817February 18, 1894) was an Italian virtuoso violinist and composer.
Born in Genoa, he was the only known pupil of Niccolò Paganini. He also studied with Antonio Restano (1790-1885), (1760s or 70s-~1865?) an ...
and composer
Cesare Pugni
Cesare Pugni (; russian: Цезарь Пуни, Cezar' Puni; 31 May 1802 in Genoa – ) was an Italian composer of ballet music, a pianist and a violinist. In his early career he composed operas, symphonies, and various other forms of orches ...
. In addition, the famous violin maker
Paolo de Barbieri
Paolo De Barbieri (1889 in Genoa – 1964) was an Italian violin maker. Trained in Cesare Candi's workshop, Paolo DeBarbieri is now considered one of the best violin makers of the school of Genova.
His style changes greatly during the year ...
. Paganini's violin,
Il Cannone Guarnerius
''Il Cannone Guarnerius'' of 1743 is a violin created by the Italian luthier Giuseppe Antonio Guarneri of Cremona (1698–1744).
Il Cannone is also known by the variants ''Il Cannone del Gesù'', the ''Cannon'', often appended with ''Guarneri de ...
, is kept in Palazzo Tursi. The city is the site of the Niccolò Paganini Music Conservatory.
Alessandro Stradella
Antonio Alessandro Boncompagno Stradella ( Bologna, 3 July 1643 – Genoa, 25 February 1682) was an Italian composer of the middle Baroque period. He enjoyed a dazzling career as a freelance composer, writing on commission, and collaborating wi ...
, a composer of the middle baroque, lived in Genoa and was assassinated in 1682.
Felice Romani was a poet who wrote many librettos for the opera composers like
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style ...
and
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (; 3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was a Sicilian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania".
Many years later, in 1898, Gius ...
Il Canto degli Italiani
"" (; "The Song of the Italians") is a canto written by Goffredo Mameli set to music by Michele Novaro in 1847, and is the current national anthem of Italy. It is best known among Italians as the "" (, "Mameli's Hymn"), after the author of the ...
".
In 1857, debuted the work of
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
entitled '' Simon Boccanegra'' inspired by the first Doge of Genoa, Simone Boccanegra.
Genoa is also the birthplace of the condcuctor
Fabio Luisi
Fabio Luisi (born 17 January 1959) is an Italian conductor. He is currently principal conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and chief conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra.
Bio ...
and of many opera singers like
Giuseppe Taddei
Giuseppe Taddei (26 June 1916 – 2 June 2010) was an Italian baritone, who, during his career, performed multiple operas composed by numerous composers.
Taddei was born in Genoa, Italy, and studied in Rome, where he made his professional debut ...
,
Margherita Carosio
Margherita Carosio (7 June 1908 – 10 January 2005) was an Italian operatic soprano. Her voice is preserved in many Parlophone and Ultraphon recordings made before World War II, as well as a memorable series made for HMV in London, beginning i ...
,
Luciana Serra
Luciana Serra (born 4 November 1946, in Genoa) is an Italian coloratura soprano.
Career
Serra made her international debut in 1966 as Eleonora in Cimarosa's ' at the Hungarian State Opera House in Budapest, but did not achieve general acclaim un ...
Daniela Dessì
Daniela Dessì (14 May 1957 – 20 August 2016) was an Italian operatic soprano.
Life and career
Born in Genoa, Italy, Dessì completed her studies at the Arrigo Boito Conservatory in Parma and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. She made ...
.
The
Teatro Carlo Felice
The Teatro Carlo Felice is the principal opera house of Genoa, Italy, used for performances of opera, ballet, orchestral music, and recitals. It is located on the side of Piazza De Ferrari.
The hall is named for King Carlo Felice, and dates fr ...
was built in 1828 in the city in the Piazza De Ferrari, and named for the monarch of the then
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...
(which included the present regions of
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...
Liguria
Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...
). The theatre was the centre of music and social life in the 19th century. On various occasions in the history of the theatre, presentations have been conducted by Mascagni,
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...
. Other Genoese theaters are the Politeama Genovese, Teatro Stabile in Genoa, Teatro della Tosse and Teatro Gustavo Modena.
On the occasion of the
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
celebration in 1992, new musical life was given to the area around the old port, including the restoration of the house of Paganini and presentations of the '' trallalero'', the traditional singing of Genoese dock workers.
The trallalero, traditional music in the Genoese dialect, is a
polyphonic
Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, ...
vocal music, performed by five men and several songs. The trallalero are ancient songs that have their roots in the Mediterranean tradition. Another aspect of the traditional Genoese music is the "Nostalgic Song". The principal authors and singers of the Nostalgic Song in Genoese dialect are who wrote the piece " Ma se ghe penso" (English: "But if I think about it"), a memory of Genoa by an emigrant to Argentina, , up to , , Buby Senarega, . The traditional Nostalgic Song will have a great influence on the so-called of singer-songwriters that in some cases will mix the nostalgic feeling with pop and jazz atmospheres.
The singer
Natalino Otto
Natalino Otto, stage name of Natale Codognotto (24 December 1912 – 4 October 1969) was an Italian singer. He started the swing genre in Italy.
Biography
Early years
Natalino Otto was born at Cogoleto, province of Genoa, in northern Italy.
...
started the swing genre in Italy and his friend and colleague
Pippo Barzizza
Giuseppe "Pippo" Barzizza (; 15 May 1902 – 4 April 1994) was an Italian composer, arranger, conductor and music director.
Giuseppe Barzizza, called Pippo, was born in Genova on 15 May 1902, and died in Sanremo on 4 April 1994. He became famou ...
was a composer, arranger, conductor and music director. Other musicians, composers and arrangers are
Angelo Francesco Lavagnino
Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (22 February 1909 – 21 August 1987) was an Italian composer, born in Genoa. He is best known for scoring many films, including ''Legend of the Lost'', ''Conspiracy of Hearts'', '' Gorgo'', ''The Legion's Last Patrol' ...
Oscar Prudente
Oscar Prudente (born 9 January 1944) is an Italian pop-rock singer-songwriter, arranger, musician and composer.
Career
Born in Rossiglione, Genoa, at young age Prudente studied drums, piano and guitar. At fifteen, while attending the high scho ...
,
Pivio and Aldo De Scalzi
Pivio (born 7 June 1958 in Genoa, Italy) and Aldo De Scalzi (born 23 January 1957 in Genoa, Italy) are two Italian composers, best known for scoring music for television and motion pictures.
They are not siblings: Pivio is a pseudonym for Rob ...
.
Genoa in the second half of the 20th century was famous for an important school of Italian singer-songwriters, so-called , that includes
Umberto Bindi
Umberto Bindi (12 May 1932 – 23 May 2002) was an Italian singer-songwriter. He is especially known for the popular song he co-wrote with Gino Paoli, ''Il Mio Mondo'' ("You're My World"), which he recorded in Italian in 1963. It was later perfor ...
Bruno Lauzi
Bruno Lauzi (; 8 August 1937 – 24 October 2006) was an Italian singer-songwriter, poet and writer.
Biography
Bruno Lauzi was born in Asmara, then part of the Italian Eastern Africa, to a Catholic father, Francesco Lauzi and a Jewish mot ...
", "
Fabrizio de André
Fabrizio Cristiano De André (; 18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter, the most prominent ''cantautore'' of his time. His 40-year career reflects his interests in concept albums, literature, poetry, political pr ...
Angelo Branduardi
Angelo Branduardi (born 12 February 1950) is an Italian folk/folk rock singer-songwriter and composer who scored relative success in Italy and European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Greece.
Biography
Branduardi wa ...
Picchio dal Pozzo
Picchio dal Pozzo are an Italian progressive rock band formed in Genoa in 1976.
Biography
The activity of Picchio dal Pozzo has been quite erratic, with five albums published over a period of about 40 years (1976-2011). The style of the band is ...
, Latte e Miele, and Delirium. Today we point the band Buio Pesto and The Banshee band.
Some songs about the city of Genoa are part of Italian popular culture, like "Via del Campo" and "La Città Vecchia" by
Fabrizio de André
Fabrizio Cristiano De André (; 18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter, the most prominent ''cantautore'' of his time. His 40-year career reflects his interests in concept albums, literature, poetry, political pr ...
, "Genova per noi" by Paolo Conte, "La Casa in Via del Campo" the song also sung by
Amalia Rodrigues
Amalia may refer to:
People
*Amalia (given name), feminine given name (includes a list of people so named)
*Princess Amalia (disambiguation), several princesses with this name
Films and television series
* ''Amalia'' (1914 film), the first ...
Fabrizio de André
Fabrizio Cristiano De André (; 18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter, the most prominent ''cantautore'' of his time. His 40-year career reflects his interests in concept albums, literature, poetry, political pr ...
in 1984 released the album '' Crêuza de mä'', totally written in Genoese dialect.
I Madrigalisti di Genova is a vocal and instrumental group formed in 1958 which specialised in medieval and Renaissance repertoire
The city has numerous music festivals, among which are Concerts at
San Fruttuoso abbey
The Abbey of San Fruttuoso is on the Italian Riviera between Camogli and Portofino. It is the seat of the Catholic parish of the same name of the Vicariate of Recco-Uscio-Camogli, Archdiocese of Genoa.
The abbey is located in a small bay beneath ...
, Premio Paganini, I Concerti di San Torpete, International Music Festival Genova, We Love Jazz, Gezmatz Festival & Workshop, and Goa-Boa Festival. In the town of
Santa Margherita Ligure
Santa Margherita Ligure ( lij, Santa Margaita) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa, in the area traditionally known as Tigullio. It has a port, used fo ...
the ancient abbey of Cervara is often the site of chamber music.
Giovine Orchestra Genovese
Giovine Orchestra Genovese (also known as GOG) is an Italian music organization, concert society and cultural association, founded in 1912 in Genoa by Giovanni Semeria. A nonprofit organization, it organizes and produces classical and chamber mu ...
, one of the oldest concert societies in Italy, was founded in Genoa in 1912.
Cinema
Genoa has been the set for many films and especially for the genre called Polizieschi. Notable directors born in Genoa include
Pietro Germi
Pietro Germi (; 14 September 1914 – 5 December 1974) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor, noted for his development of the neorealist and commedia all'Italiana genres.
His 1961 film '' Divorce Italian Style'' earned him a ...
and
Giuliano Montaldo
Giuliano Montaldo (born 22 February 1930) is an Italian film director.
Biography
While he was still a young student, Montaldo was recruited by the director Carlo Lizzani for the role of leading actor in the film ''Achtung! Banditi!'' (1951). ...
Vittorio Gassman
Vittorio Gassman (; born Gassmann; 1 September 1922 – 29 June 2000), popularly known as , was an Italian actor, director and screenwriter.
He is considered one of the greatest Italian actors, whose career includes both important productions ...
Alberto Lupo
Alberto Lupo (byname of Alberto Zoboli; 19 December 1924 – 13 August 1984) was an Italian film and television actor best known for his roles in swash-buckling and actions films of the 1960s.
Lupo starred in films such as '' A 008, operazion ...
, the actresses:
Lina Volonghi
Lina Volonghi (4 September 1914 – 24 February 1991) was an Italian stage, television and film actress.
Life and career
Born in Genoa as Giuseppina Angela Volonghi, a promising junior swimming champion in her youth, Volonghi started her actin ...
Moana Pozzi
Anna Moana Rosa Pozzi (; 27 April 1961 – 15 September 1994), also known mononymously as Moana, was an Italian pornographic actress, television personality and politician.
Early life
Pozzi was born in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, the daughter of Al ...
. Before actor Bartolomeo Pagano's cinema career, he was a ''camallo'', which means stevedore, at the port of Genoa. His cinema career began with the film ''
Cabiria
''Cabiria'' is a 1914 Italian epic silent film, directed by Giovanni Pastrone and shot in Turin. The film is set in ancient Sicily, Carthage, and Cirta during the period of the Second Punic War (218–202 BC). It follows a melodramatic ma ...
'', one of the first and most famous kolossal. In 1985 were filmed in Genoa some scenes of ''
Pirates
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
'' by
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...
, finished shooting they left in the Old Harbour the galleon
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 time ...
.
Some films set in Genoa:
* ''
Agata and the Storm
''Agata and the Storm'' ( it, Agata e la tempesta) is a 2004 Italian comedy film directed by Silvio Soldini.
Cast
* Licia Maglietta - Agata Torregiani
* Giuseppe Battiston - Romeo D'Avanzo
* Emilio Solfrizzi - Gustavo Torregiani
* Marina Mass ...
Un destino ridicolo
''Un destino ridicolo'' (''A ridiculous destiny'') is a 1996 novel written by the Italian singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André together with the writer Alessandro Gennari. The 2008 film "'' Amore che vieni, amore che vai''", directed by Daniele C ...
Behind Closed Shutters
''Behind Closed Shutters'' ( it, Persiane chiuse) is a 1951 Italian crime-melodrama film directed by Luigi Comencini and starring Massimo Girotti, Eleonora Rossi Drago and Giulietta Masina.Barattoni p. 224
Plot
Sandra (Rossi Drago) searches for h ...
''
* ''
The Blue-Eyed Bandit
''Il bandito dagli occhi azzurri'' (internationally released as ''The Blue-Eyed Bandit'') is a 1980 Italian "poliziottesco" film written and directed by Alfredo Giannetti. It marked the film debut of Fabrizio Bentivoglio.
Plot
Renzo Dominici ...
The Conspiracy in Genoa
''The Conspiracy in Genoa'' (german: Die Verschwörung zu Genua) is a 1921 German silent historical drama film directed by Paul Leni and starring Wilhelm Diegelmann, Maria Fein and Fritz Kortner. It is an adaptation of the 1783 play '' Fiesco'' ...
''
* ''
Days and Clouds
''Days and Clouds'' ( it, Giorni e nuvole) is a 2007 Italian drama film directed by Silvio Soldini. It was entered into the 30th Moscow International Film Festival where Margherita Buy won the award for Best Actress.
Plot
Set in Genoa, the f ...
High Crime
''High Crime'' ( it, La polizia incrimina la legge assolve, es, La policía detiene, la ley juzga) is a 1973 Italian-Spanish ''poliziottesco'' film directed by Enzo G. Castellari. The film stars Franco Nero, James Whitmore, Delia Boccardo and ...
''
* ''
In the Beginning There Was Underwear
''In the Beginning There Was Underwear'' ( it, In principio erano le mutande) is a List of Italian films of 1999, 1999 Cinema of Italy, Italian romantic comedy film written and directed by Anna Negri. It was screened in the "Forum" section at the 4 ...
Mark Shoots First
''Mark il poliziotto spara per primo'' (internationally released as ''Mark Shoots First'') is an Italian '' poliziottesco'' film directed in 1975 by Stelvio Massi. It is the sequel of '' Mark il poliziotto''.
Cast
*Franco Gasparri: Mark Terzi ...
''
* ''
Mean Frank and Crazy Tony
''Mean Frank and Crazy Tony'' ( it, Il suo nome faceva tremare...Interpol in allarme or it, Dio, sei proprio un padreterno!) is a 1973 crime-comedy film directed by Michele Lupo, and starring Lee Van Cleef, Tony Lo Bianco and Edwige Fenech.
P ...
Street Law
Street Law (also known as ''StreetLaw'') is a global program of legal and civics education geared at secondary school students. Street Law is an approach to teaching practically relevant law to grassroots populations using interactive teaching m ...
''
* ''
Stregati
''Stregati'' (''Bewitched'') is a 1986 Italian romantic comedy film directed by Francesco Nuti.
For this film Giovanni Nuti won the Nastro d'Argento for best score.
Plot
Lorenzo is a dj who lives in Genoa, in a loft near the port; he condu ...
The Genoese dialect (''Zeneize'') is the most important dialect of the Ligurian language, and is commonly spoken in Genoa alongside Italian. Ligurian is listed by
Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensi ...
, and surrounding regions, it is of Gallo-Italic derivation.
Sports
There are two major football teams in Genoa: Genoa C.F.C. and
U.C. Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa.
The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s ...
; the former is the oldest
football club
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all ...
Coppa Italia
The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since.
History
The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...
(1936–37).
U.C. Sampdoria
Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa.
The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s ...
was founded in 1946 from the merger of two existing clubs, Andrea Doria (founded in 1895) and Sampierdarenese (founded in 1911). Sampdoria has won one Italian championship (
1990–91 Serie A
The 1990-91 season saw Sampdoria win the Serie A title for the first time in their history, finishing five points ahead of second placed Milan. Third placed Internazionale were victorious in the UEFA Cup, with ninth-placed Roma compensating fo ...
), 4 Coppa Italia, 1
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...
(1989–90) and 1
Supercoppa Italiana
The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual association football, football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles ...
. Both Genoa C.F.C. and U.C. Sampdoria play their home games in the
Luigi Ferraris Stadium
The Stadio comunale Luigi Ferraris, also known as the Marassi from the name of the neighbourhood where it is located, is a multi-use stadium in Genoa, Italy. The home of Genoa C.F.C. and U.C. Sampdoria football clubs, it opened in 1911 and ...
, which holds 36,536 spectators. Deeply felt is the derby called
Derby della Lanterna
The Derby della Lanterna, Italian for the "Derby of the Lantern", is Genoa's local derby, played by Genoa C.F.C and U.C. Sampdoria. It takes place at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, which both clubs share.
Background
The derby's name is derived from ...
.
The international tennis tournament
AON Open Challenger
The Genoa AON Open Challenger - Memorial Giorgio Messina is an annual tennis tournament held in Genoa, Italy, usually in September, since 2003. The event is part of the ''ATP challenger series and is played on outdoor clay court
A clay court ...
takes place in Genoa.
In
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
the city is represented by CUS Genova Rugby, which is the rugby union team of the
University of Genoa
The University of Genoa, known also with the acronym UniGe ( it, Università di Genova), is one of the largest universities in Italy. It is located in the city of Genoa and regional Metropolitan City of Genoa, on the Italian Riviera in the Ligur ...
Sports Centre.
CUS Genova had their peak in 1971–1973 when the team was runner-up of the Italian Serie A for three consecutive seasons and contested unsuccessfully the title to
Petrarca Rugby
Petrarca Rugby is a rugby union club from Padua, Italy, currently competing in the top tier of the Italian rugby union, the Top10.
Founded in 1947, the team is the rugby union branch of the Unione Sportiva Petrarca, an omnisport club that incl ...
.
Amongst the CUS Genova players who represented
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
at international level the most relevant were Marco Bollesan and Agostino Puppo.
In 1947 was founded the CUS Genova Hockey and in 1968 the basketball club
Athletic Genova
Athletic Genova is an Italian basketball club from Genoa.
History
Athletic was founded in 1968 in the premises of the parish in San Pio X avenue, where there was also the registered office, at the hands of Gino Negro, Elio Fertonani and Don Gia ...
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...
, in 1988 the
European Karate Championships
The European Karate Championships are organised by the European Karate Federation each year.
History
Events from 1966 to 1996 were organized by the European Karate Union. In 1961, Jacques Delcourt was appointed President of French Karate, whi ...
Tall Ships' Races
The Tall Ships Races are races for sail training "tall ships" (sailing ships). The races are designed to encourage international friendship and training for young people in the art of sailing. The races are held annually in European waters and c ...
.
Cuisine
Popular sauces of Genoese cuisine include Pesto sauce, garlic sauce called Agliata, "Walnut Sauce" called ,
Green sauce
Green sauce or greensauce is a family of cold, uncooked sauces based on chopped herbs, including the Spanish and Italian ''salsa verde'', the French ''sauce verte'', the German ''Grüne Soße'' or ''Frankfurter Grie Soß'' (Frankfurt dialect) ...
Farinata
Farinata (), socca (), torta di ceci (), or cecina () is a type of thin, unleavened pancake or crêpe made from chickpea flour. It originated in Italy and later became a typical food of the Ligurian Sea coast, from Nice to Sardinia and Elba is ...
, and Cuculli.
Key ingredient of Genoese cuisine is the Prescinsêua used among other things to prepare the and the Barbagiuai and still , , and the which means "Focaccia with cheese" that is even being considered for
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
PGI status. Other key ingredients are many varieties of fish as Sardines, Anchovies (see also and ), Garfish,
Swordfish
Swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as broadbills in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordf ...
,
Tuna
A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...
,
Octopus
An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, ...
,
Squid
True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fittin ...
Stockfish
Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks (which are called "hjell" in Norway) on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage lif ...
(see also ), the Musciame and Gianchetti.
Other elements of Genoese cuisine include the ''Ligurian Olive Oil'', the cheeses like Brös, , San Stè cheese, , the sausages like
Testa in cassetta
Head cheese (Dutch language, Dutch: ''hoofdkaas'') or brawn is a cold cut terrine (food), terrine or meat jelly that originated in Europe. It is made with flesh from the head of a Calf (animal), calf or pig (less commonly a sheep or cow), typi ...
, and the Genoa salami which is the style of Genoa salami. Fresh pasta (usually trofie, trenette) and "gnocchi" with pesto sauce are probably the most iconic among Genoese dishes. Pesto sauce is prepared with fresh
Genovese basil
Genovese basil (in Ligurian language ''baxaicò'' or ''baxeicò'') is a cultivar of '' Ocimum basilicum'' (sweet basil). It is one of the most popular basils for culinary use, particularly for its use in pesto, the traditional Genoese sauce.
Th ...
parmesan
Parmesan ( it, Parmigiano Reggiano; ) is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cows’ milk and aged at least 12 months.
It is named after two of the areas which produce it, the provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia (''Parmigiano'' ...
and pecorino mixed,
garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeas ...
and
olive oil
Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: ...
pounded together.
Liguria wine
Liguria is an Italian wine region located in the northwest region of Italy along the Italian Riviera. It is bordered by the Piedmont wine region to the north, the Alps and French wine region of Provence to the west, the Apennine Mountains and the ...
such as
Pigato
Pigato is a white Italian wine grape planted primarily in Liguria. The grape is found in the Riviera di Ponente zone in Italy's region of Liguria which makes sturdy, aromatic wines with plenty of fruit. DNA evidence proves that Pigato, Verment ...
, , , Rossese di Dolceacqua and are popular. Dishes of Genoese tradition include the
Tripe
Tripe is a type of edible lining from the stomachs of various farm animals. Most tripe is from cattle, pigs and sheep.
Types of tripe
Beef tripe
Beef tripe is made from the muscle wall (the interior mucosal lining is removed) of a cow's ...
cooked in various recipes like Sbira, the Polpettone di melanzane, the ''Tomaxelle'', the , the
Bagnun
Bagnun is a soup, with anchovies as the primary ingredient, which originated in the 19th century near Sestri Levante in the province of Genoa ( Italy).
History
Originally, bagnun was cooked by the crews of typical fishing boats called leudi. ...
, the fish-consisting ''Ciuppin'' (the precursor to San Francisco's Cioppino), the
Buridda
Buridda is a seafood soup or stew in Italian cuisine from Liguria in northern Italy. Some preparations may be slow-cooked, while others are cooked in a relatively short amount of time (9–10 minutes). It has also been described as a stew, or as ...
, the and the .
Two sophisticated recipes of Genoese cuisine are: the
Cappon magro
''Cappon magro'' (; lij, capon magro ), is an elaborate Genoese salad of seafood and vegetables over hardtack arranged into a decorative pyramid and dressed with a rich sauce.
A similar but much less elaborate dish is called ''capponata'' in Li ...
and the (a song by
Fabrizio De André
Fabrizio Cristiano De André (; 18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter, the most prominent ''cantautore'' of his time. His 40-year career reflects his interests in concept albums, literature, poetry, political pr ...
is titled A Çimma'' and is dedicated to this Genoese recipe). Originating in Genoa is ''Pandolce'' that gave rise to
Genoa cake
Genoa cake (or simply genoa) is a fruit cake consisting of sultanas (golden-colored raisins), currants or raisins, glacé cherries, almonds, and candied orange peel or essence, cooked in a batter of flour, eggs, butter and sugar.
. The city lands its name to a special paste used to prepare cakes and pastries called Genoise and to the
Pain de Gênes
''Pain de Gênes'' () is a cake made largely from almond paste, eggs and melted butter, but only a minimal amount of flour. Another unusual aspect is that no raising agent is used, instead the rise is achieved by whisking the butter and eggs. It ...
.
In Genoa there are many food markets in typical nineteenth-century iron structures as Mercato del Ferro, Mercato Dinegro, Mercato di Via Prè, Mercato di piazza Sarzano, Mercato del Carmine, Mercato della Foce, Mercato Romagnosi. The instead is in masonry and has a circular structure.
People
Genoa has left an extraordinary impression on many noted personalities.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
loved Genoa and wrote some of his works there.
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
and
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
lived near Genoa in
Rapallo
Rapallo ( , , ) is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, located in the Liguria region of northern Italy.
As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and Chiav ...
.
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
said that Genoa "is the most beautiful city in the world," and
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
wrote: "I have never seen anything like this Genoa! it is something indescribably beautiful".
Among the personalities of the 19th and 20th centuries who wrote about Genoa were
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also ...
,
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
,
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
,
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
,
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...
, Joseph Conrad, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Gustave Flaubert, Alexandre Dumas, Louis Énault, Valery Larbaud, Albert Camus, Paul Valéry, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Paul Klee.
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
, Giacomo Puccini, and Pietro Mascagni. Verdi in his work, '' Simon Boccanegra'', is inspired by the medieval history of the city. The poets
Dino Campana
Dino Campana (20 August 1885 – 1 March 1932) was an Italian visionary poet. His fame rests on his only published book of poetry, the '' Canti Orfici'' ("Orphic Songs"), as well as his wild and erratic personality, including his ill-fated love ...
, Camillo Sbarbaro and
Giorgio Caproni
Giorgio Caproni ( Livorno, 7 January 1912 – 22 January 1990, Rome) was an Italian poet, literary critic and translator, especially from French. His work was also part of the literature event in the art competition at the 1948 Summer Olympi ...
have made Genoa a recurring element of their poetic work.
Famous Genoese include Sinibaldo and Ottobuono Fieschi (Popes Innocent IV and Adrian V), Giovanni Battista Cybo (Pope Innocent VIII) and Giacomo della Chiesa (Pope Benedict XV), navigators
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
, Antonio de Noli,
Enrico Alberto d'Albertis
Enrico Alberto d'Albertis (23 March 1846 – 3 March 1932) was an Italian navigator, writer, philologist, ethnologist and philanthropist. His cousin Luigi Maria d'Albertis was also an explorer and naturalists.
Biography
Born at Voltri, now part ...
, Enrico de Candia (Henry, Count of Malta) and
Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria, Prince of Melfi (; lij, Drîa Döia ; 30 November 146625 November 1560) was a Genoese statesman, ', and admiral, who played a key role in the Republic of Genoa during his lifetime.
As the ruler of Genoa, Doria reformed the Rep ...
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2 ...
, art curator and critic Germano Celant, Physics 2002 Nobel Prize winner
Riccardo Giacconi
Riccardo Giacconi ( , ; October 6, 1931 – December 9, 2018) was an Italian-American Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist who laid down the foundations of X-ray astronomy. He was a professor at the Johns Hopkins University.
Biography
Born ...
, Literature 1975 Nobel Prize winner Eugenio Montale, the court painter Giovanni Maria delle Piane (Il Mulinaretto) from the Delle Piane family, artists Vanessa Beecroft,
Enrico Accatino
Enrico Accatino (August 20, 1920 – July 16, 2007) was an Italian abstract painter, sculptor, designer, and advocate of a new Italian culture tied to textiles.
He was awarded a gold medal by the President of the Italian Republic for "Benemerit ...
, comedians Gilberto Govi, Paolo Villaggio, Beppe Grillo, Luca Bizzarri, Paolo Kessisoglu and Maurizio Crozza; singer-songwriters
Fabrizio de André
Fabrizio Cristiano De André (; 18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter, the most prominent ''cantautore'' of his time. His 40-year career reflects his interests in concept albums, literature, poetry, political pr ...
Umberto Bindi
Umberto Bindi (12 May 1932 – 23 May 2002) was an Italian singer-songwriter. He is especially known for the popular song he co-wrote with Gino Paoli, ''Il Mio Mondo'' ("You're My World"), which he recorded in Italian in 1963. It was later perfor ...
,
Bruno Lauzi
Bruno Lauzi (; 8 August 1937 – 24 October 2006) was an Italian singer-songwriter, poet and writer.
Biography
Bruno Lauzi was born in Asmara, then part of the Italian Eastern Africa, to a Catholic father, Francesco Lauzi and a Jewish mot ...
and Francesco Baccini, while Luigi Tenco and Gino Paoli are also known as Genoese singer-songwriters, although they are respectively from Cassine, Piedmont, Cassine and Monfalcone; actor
Vittorio Gassman
Vittorio Gassman (; born Gassmann; 1 September 1922 – 29 June 2000), popularly known as , was an Italian actor, director and screenwriter.
He is considered one of the greatest Italian actors, whose career includes both important productions ...
, and actress
Moana Pozzi
Anna Moana Rosa Pozzi (; 27 April 1961 – 15 September 1994), also known mononymously as Moana, was an Italian pornographic actress, television personality and politician.
Early life
Pozzi was born in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, the daughter of Al ...
, Giorgio Parodi who conceived the motorcycle company Moto Guzzi with Carlo Guzzi and Giovanni Ravelli.
Some reports say the navigator and explorer Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) was also from Genoa, others say he was from
Savona
Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea.
Savona used to be one of the chie ...
. Roman Catholic saint, Saints from Genoa include Romulus of Genoa, Romulus, Syrus of Genoa, Syrus, Catherine of Genoa. Among the latest generations, musicians like Andrea Bacchetti, Giulio Plotino, Sergio Ciomei, Lorenzo Cavasanti, Stefano Bagliano and Fabrizio Cipriani, as well as academics and authors like Michele Giugliano and Roberto Dillon, help in keeping the name of the city on the international spotlight in different fields among the arts, technology and culture.
Museums
* Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti
*
Albertis Castle
D'Albertis Castle ( it, Castello d'Albertis) is a historical residence in Genoa, north-western Italy. It was the home of sea captain Enrico Alberto d'Albertis, and was donated to the city of Genoa on his death in 1932. It currently houses the ...
* Doge's Palace, Genoa
* Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art
* Galata - Museo del mare
* Villa Saluzzo Serra, Galleria d'arte moderna (GAM)
* Lighthouse of Genoa
*
Mackenzie Castle
The Mackenzie Castle (Italian: ''Castello Mackenzie'') is a historical manor in the Castelletto quarter of Genoa, northern Italy. It is an example of Gothic Revival architecture.
Registered as a cultural spacePalazzo Bianco
*
Palazzo Reale
This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent.
Africa
* Abdin Palace, Cairo
* Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo
* Koubbeh Palace, Cairo
* Tahra Palace, Cairo
* Menelik Palace
* Jubilee Palace
* Guenete Leul Palace
* Imperial Palace- Mas ...
*
Palazzo Rosso
The Palazzo Brignole Sale or Palazzo Rosso is a house museum located in Via Garibaldi, in the historical center of Genoa, in Northwestern Italy. The palace is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the P ...
Corso Italia runs for in the quartiere of Albaro, linking two neighbourhoods of Foce and
Boccadasse
Boccadasse (''Boca d'âze'' or ''Bocadâze'' in Genoese) is an old mariners' village of the Italian city of Genoa. It lies within the borders of the neighbourhood of Albaro. In today's administrative subdivision it is located in the Municipio V ...
. The promenade, which was built in 1908, overlooks the sea, towards the promontory of Portofino. The main landmarks are the small lighthouse of Punta Vagno, the San Giuliano Abbey, and the Lido of Albaro.
, promenade overlooking the sea and long, Nervi.
Promenade of the upper ring road, so-called "Circonvallazione a Monte" that includes: Corso Firenze, Corso Paganini, Corso Magenta, Via Solferino, Corso Armellini.
Walks can be made from the centre of Genoa following one of the many ancient paths between tall palaces and the "Creuze" to reach the higher areas of the city where there are magnificent places like Belvedere Castelletto, the "Righi's district", the "Santuario di Nostra Signora di Loreto", the "Santuario della Madonnetta", the "Santuario di San Francesco da Paola".
Monte Fasce gives a complete view of the city.
To reach the hinterland of the
Province of Genoa
The Province of Genoa ( Italian ''Provincia di Genova'') was a province in the Liguria region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Genoa. It was replaced by Metropolitan City of Genoa.
Overview
It has an area of and a total population of about ...
one can use the Genoa – Casella, Liguria, Casella Old Railway, of railway between the Genoese mountains.
International relations
Twin towns – sister cities
Genoa is Sister city, twinned with:
*Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, United States
*Marseille, France
*Murcia, Spain
*Odesa, Ukraine
*Rijeka, Croatia
*Ryazan, Russia
Cooperation agreements
As of 2013, Genoa had bilateral agreements with:
*Acqui Terme, Italy
*Athens, Greece
*Azuchi, Shiga, Azuchi, Japan
*Barcelona, Spain
*Belém, Brazil
*Bogotá, Colombia
*Buenos Aires, Argentina
*Capo di Ponte, Italy
*Castelsardo, Italy
*Constanța, Romania
*Cremona, Italy
*Dalian, China
*Deva, Romania, Deva, Romania
*Guayaquil, Ecuador
*Havana, Cuba
*Kaolack, Senegal
*Kyiv, Ukraine
*Latakia, Syria
*
Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...
, France
*Lyon, France
*Mantua, Italy
*El Mina, Lebanon
*Moscow, Russia
*Nice, France
*Ovada, Italy
*La Paz, Bolivia
*Pizzo Calabro, Italy
*Pointe-Noire, Congo
*Polokwane, South Africa
*Saint Petersburg, Russia
*Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
*Siena, Italy
*Sousse, Tunisia
*Sumqayıt, Azerbaijan
*Turin, Italy
*Tursi, Italy
*Valparaíso, Chile
*Varna, Bulgaria, Varna, Bulgaria
*Yekaterinburg, Russia
Consulates
*Albania
*Austria
*Belgium
*Bangladesh
*Brazil
*Chile
*Colombia
*Costa Rica
*Cyprus
*Czech Republic
*Denmark
*Dominican Republic
*Ecuador
*El Salvador
*Estonia
*Finland
*France
*Germany
*Greece
*Guinea
*Haiti
*Hungary
*Kazakhstan
*Latvia
*Lithuania
*Luxembourg
*Malta
*Monaco
*Netherlands
*Norway
*Panama
*Peru
*Poland
*Portugal
*Republic of the Congo
*Romania
*Russia
*San Marino
*Senegal
*South Africa
*South Korea
*Spain
*Sweden
*Switzerland
*Thailand
*Tunisia
*Turkey
*Uganda
*List of diplomats of Great Britain to the Republic of Genoa, United Kingdom
*United States
*Uruguay
Notable people
See also
* List of tallest buildings in Genoa
Notes
References
Bibliography
* Gino Benvenuti. ''Le repubbliche marinare. Amalfi, Pisa, Genova e Venezia''. Netwon Compton, Rome, 1989.
* Steven A. Epstein; ''Genoa & the Genoese, 958–1528'' University of North Carolina Press, 1996 online edition * Steven A. Epstein; "Labour and Port Life in Medieval Genoa." ''Mediterranean Historical Review''. 3 (1988): 114–40.
* Steven A. Epstein; "Business Cycles and the Sense of Time in Medieval Genoa." Business History Review 62 (1988): 238–60.
* Face Richard. "Secular History in Twelfth-Century Italy: Caffaro of Genoa." ''Journal of Medieval History'' 6 (1980): 169–84.
* Hughes Diane Owen. "Kinsmen and Neighbors in Medieval Genoa." In ''The Medieval City,'' edited by Harry A. Miskimin, David Herlihy, and Adam L. Udovitch, 1977, 3–28.
* Hughes Diane Owen. "Urban Growth and Family Structure in Medieval Genoa." ''Past and Present'' 66 (1975): 3–28.
* Lopez Robert S. "Genoa." In ''Dictionary of the Middle Ages,'' pp. 383–87. 1982.
* Vitale Vito. ''Breviario della storia di Genova.'' Vols. 1–2. Genoa, 1955.
* Giuseppe Felloni – Guido Laura "''Genova e la storia della finanza: una serie di primati ?" "Genoa and the history of finance: a series of firsts ?"'' 9 November 2004, (www.giuseppefelloni.it)
* Van Doosselaere, Quentin, ''Commercial Agreements and Social Dynamics in Medieval Genoa'' (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009).
* Гавриленко О. А., Сівальньов О. М., Цибулькін В. В. Генуезька спадщина на теренах України; етнодержавознавчий вимір. — Харків: Точка, 2017.— 260 с. —
External links
Official Site * https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1211
{{Authority control
Companies based in Genoa
Genoa,
Coastal towns in Liguria
Italian Riviera
Mediterranean port cities and towns in Italy
Metropolitan City of Genoa
Roman towns and cities in Italy
Capitals of former nations
World Heritage Sites in Italy