Genoa: Tourism

On seeing Genoa, Montesquieu, Dumas and Flaubert all described as a "city of marble": black and white the town houses of the aristocracy and merchants, coloured and veined the various monuments. The distribution of marble works throughout Genoa reflects the strange mixture of parsimony, reserve and adventurous spirit in the make-up of the Genoese character.

Genoa spreads outwards from its old town around the port in a confusion of tiny alleyways and squares suddenly opening out the narrow spaces across old palaces. It is impressing not only the ensemble of narrow streets and minute squares in itself, but also the effect due to medieval-Renaissance architecture co-existing with younger structures of an urban fabric in development over the centuries.

To feel the presence of history in Genoa it is sufficient to take a stroll through the streets - from the "Soprana" and "dei Vacca" gates, vestiges of the city walls built in the 12th century, to the cathedral, which preserve the basin into which, it is said, fell the head of John the Baptist, to the ancient churches of Santi Cosima e Damiano, Santo Stefano (where Christopher Columbus was baptized) and San Matteo; from Palazzo San Giorgio (where Marco Polo dictated "Il Milione") to the Home of Columbus, to the Sant'Andrea cloister, the Loggia di Banchi, the Embriaci Tower, the palace of the doges. A clear perception of what Genoa was like in the past can be had simply by walking along Via Garibaldi, where Genoese families raised their town houses to princely elevation. The golden age of painting in Genoa was the 17th century, when the Genoese school was prominent in both Italy and the rest of Europe. This phenomenon was largely due to the influence of Flemish painters working in Genoa, as Rubens and Van Dyck.

Down to the waterfront, the sea once came up to the vaulted arcades of Piazza Caricamento, a hive of activity, fringed by café-restaurants and the stalls of its market. Genoa's modern commercial nucleus, with big departments stores and pavement cafés in the arcade extends mainly along Via XX Settembre, with natural extensions to the east (Corso Buenos Aires), uphill (the elegant Via Roma e Galleria mazzini) and two pedestrian areas, Quadrilatero and San Vincenzo. A second shopping area is in the heart of the historical centre.

The city is surrounded by old walls and forts.