Sampierdarena (also San Pier d'Arena; Ligurian: San Pè d'ænn-a) is a major port and industrial area of

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, in northwest Italy. With San Teodoro it forms the West Central (Centro Ovest) ''

municipio A ' () or ' () is an administrative division in several Hispanophone and Lusophone nations, respectively. It is often translated as "municipality." It comes from ''mūnicipium'' (), meaning a township. In English, a municipality often is define ...

''.

Geography

Sampierdarena lies on the coast about west of the centre of

. In 2017 the population was made of 43,463 inhabitants.Notiziario statistico della città di Genova n. 3-2018
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History

Sampierdarena was an ancient fishing village, named after the church of San Pietro d'Arena ("St. Peter of the Sand"). During the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...

it became a residential area, with great palaces being built such as the Palazzo Imperiale Scassi, designed by

Domenico Domenico is an Italian given name for males and may refer to: People * Domenico Alfani, Italian painter * Domenico Allegri, Italian composer * Domenico Alvaro, Italian mobster * Domenico Ambrogi, Italian painter * Domenico Auria, Italian a ...

and Giovanni Ponzello according to the style of

Galeazzo Alessi Galeazzo Alessi (1512 – 30 December 1572) was an Italian architect from Perugia, known throughout Europe for his distinctive style based on his enthusiasm for ancient architecture. He studied drawing for civil and military architecture under th ...

and for this reason believed in the past to be a work of Alessi himself and the Palazzo Spinola di San Pietro (whose designer is unknown), one of those drawn by the painter

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...

in the book

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 ...

, published in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

in 1622. After the coming of the railways (1854) it became one of the great industrial centres of Italy. Gio. Ansaldo & C. was one of the leading companies of the area involved in shipbuilding and armaments, building the first locomotive in Italy, named ''

Sampierdarena Sampierdarena (also San Pier d'Arena; Ligurian: San Pè d'ænn-a) is a major port and industrial area of Genoa, in northwest Italy. With San Teodoro it forms the West Central (Centro Ovest) ''municipio''. Geography Sampierdarena lies on ...

'', before it was finally taken over by

Finmeccanica Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the 12th largest ...

in 1993. In 1926 the ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' of Sampierdarena was absorbed by Greater Genoa, becoming in 1969 a ''delegazione'', and in 1978 a ''circoscrizione'' of the city. At present it is part of the Genoa's city Municipio II (Centro Ovest), together with the neighbourhood of San Teodoro. The 'Samp' in the name of Genoese football club

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the List of football club mergers, merg ...

(and the unique striped bands across the kit) derives from local team Ginnastica Sampierdarenese, which merged with Società Andrea Doria in 1946.

Economy

Historically the area was dominated by heavy industry such as shipbuilding.

Architecture

Lighthouse

At the border to the San Teodoro district, there stands the symbol of Genoa, the

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

, the oldest still-working one in the world.

Geography

History

Economy

Architecture

Lighthouse

Notes and references

See also