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Genoa is the capital of Liguria and one of the busiest ports in Italy, climbing steep hills above the Gulf of Genoa between the mountains and the sea. For more than seven centuries, from the 11th century to 1797, it was the capital of one of the most powerful maritime republics, and its fleets and bankers made it one of the richest cities in Europe, nicknamed la Superba, the superb one.
Its medieval old town is one of the largest in Europe, a maze of narrow alleys called caruggi that open onto Renaissance streets lined with the palaces of the Genoese nobility. Those palaces of the Strade Nuove and the Rolli system form a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city is also known as the home of pesto and focaccia.
The redeveloped Old Port holds the aquarium and the maritime museum, while the old Lanterna lighthouse still guards the harbor. Along the coast, fishing villages such as Boccadasse and Camogli lead east toward the Portofino peninsula and the Riviera di Levante.
Genoa Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Lawrence, was consecrated in 1118 and built between the 12th and 14th centuries in the heart of Genoa. Its Gothic facade of black and white stripes is guarded by stone lions, while the bell tower and dome came in the 16th century and its treasury holds relics.
Palazzo Ducale in Genoa was the home of the doges of the Genoese Republic, begun at the end of the 13th century and later rebuilt in grand style. With entrances on Piazza Matteotti and Piazza De Ferrari, it is now a museum and cultural center hosting major art exhibitions, talks and events.
Piazza De Ferrari is the main square of Genoa, set between the medieval old town and the modern center and famous for its large bronze fountain. It is ringed by grand palaces built in the early 1900s, the Teatro Carlo Felice and a side of the Palazzo Ducale, and it is the city's financial heart.
Via Garibaldi in Genoa is a Renaissance street laid out from 1558 to 1583 by the city's nobility, lined with some of the finest palaces in Italy. Once called Strada Nuova, it is part of the UNESCO-listed Strade Nuove and Palazzi dei Rolli, and several of its palaces are now museums.
Palazzo Rosso, or Palazzo Brignole Sale, is a 17th-century palace on Via Garibaldi in Genoa, built in 1675 and left to the city in 1874 by the Duchess of Galliera. As part of the Strada Nuova museums it displays its frescoed rooms and paintings by Van Dyck, Guido Reni, Veronese, Guercino and Dürer.
The Aquarium of Genoa in the Old Port is the largest aquarium in Italy, designed by Renzo Piano for the 1992 Expo marking 500 years since the voyage of Columbus. Around 12,000 animals of more than 600 species live in over 70 tanks, from sharks and dolphins to penguins and tropical reefs.
The Lighthouse of Genoa, known as La Lanterna, is the symbol of the city and the main light of its port, rebuilt in its current shape in 1543. Standing 76 meters tall on its rock, it is one of the oldest working lighthouses in the world, and visitors can climb it and tour a small museum at its foot.
The Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno covers over a square kilometer of hillside in Genoa, one of the largest cemeteries in Europe. Opened in the 19th century to plans by Carlo Barabino and Giovanni Battista Resasco, it is famous for its realistic marble tomb sculptures, set among arcades and woods.
Boccadasse is an old mariners' village within Genoa, at the eastern end of the Corso Italia seafront promenade. Its pastel houses crowd around a small pebble beach where fishing boats are still pulled up, and its ice cream shops and bars make it a favorite place to watch the sunset over the sea.
Camogli is a fishing town on the west side of the Portofino peninsula, east of Genoa on the Golfo Paradiso. Once called the city of a thousand white sails, it is lined with tall, brightly painted houses above its beach and little harbor, and it is a gateway to the Portofino park.
San Fruttuoso Abbey is a Romanesque abbey hidden in a small bay of the Portofino peninsula, between Camogli and Portofino, reachable only by boat or on foot along steep trails. Rebuilt in the late 10th and early 11th centuries, it is guarded by a Doria watchtower from 1562.
Portofino is a small resort village on the Italian Riviera east of Genoa, clustered around a tiny harbor lined with colorfully painted houses. Known since Roman times, it has drawn the rich and famous since the late 1800s, and paths climb to the Castello Brown and the lighthouse on the point.
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