Medieval power
The best way to discover medieval Genoa is to stroll through the maze of caruggi (narrow streets) and piazzas. The piazza was the meeting place of all powers, and was also used by the great aristocratic families to showcase their power. Piazza San Matteo, for example, is the stronghold of the Doria family, powerful shipowners and financiers, who built palaces and churches with facades of alternating bands of black and white marble, creating astonishing chromatic effects. This polychromy is also found in the masterpiece of the Genoese Middle Ages: San Lorenzo Cathedral. While its side doors have the sobriety of the Romanesque, the columns and colonnettes of its naves creating a double elevation are resolutely Gothic. Campaniles are another powerful reminder of the Middle Ages. These bell towers, generally isolated from the church, are often octagonal in shape, such as the campanile of San Donato church, which was partly built using Roman columns. All these treasures were protected by a fortified enclosure, of which the Porta Soprana is the finest example. See its two impressive crenellated round towers. It was also during this period that the port of Genoa grew in size. The sandy cove was transformed into an authentic harbor with a protective breakwater: the Molo Vecchio. The Piazza Caricamento, where goods were loaded and unloaded, preserves interesting remains from this period, such as the Porticos de la Ripa with its wide, low vaults.
Liguria is rich in villages that have retained their medieval charm. Noli, with its superb Romanesque church of San Paragorio; Albenga and its Piazza San Michele, home to some of the city's finest buildings, including San Michele Cathedral with its beautiful Gothic bell tower and the Palazzo Comunale with its impressive loggia; Triora, perched 776 m above sea level, whose gates and castles bear witness to Genoa's role as a protective outpost; or Taggia and its San Domenico convent, whose church is covered with superb Gothic paintings, are among these medieval treasures. And let's not forget Portofino, with its castle and chiesa di San Giorgio, reached by winding its cobbled streets and pretty staircases.
But the most incredible witnesses to the Ligurian Middle Ages are undoubtedly the villages of Cinque Terre. It's here, in the heart of this rugged terrain, that the inhabitants have created masterpieces of agricultural engineering: the cian, vertical cultivations tiered into flat terraces supported by dry-stone walls made of sandstone blocks filled with pebbles, known as muretti a secco, stretching for almost 7,000 km... while the coast is only 12! These terraces are also dotted with small stone huts, isolated or grouped together, serving as seasonal habitats during the harvest. The terrain has also influenced the urban layout of these villages, whose winding lanes are lined with astonishingly colorful houses built right out of the rock, the accumulation of which creates a striking impression. In the maze of alleys and lanes of Monterosso al Mare, you'll discover the beautiful church of San Giovanni Battista, with its two-tone facade and powerful watchtower; in Vernazza, you'll discover the sober church of Santa Maria di Antiocha, with its octagonal bell tower 40 m high, and the Castello Doria, with its circular tower; Corniglia will impress you with its Chiesa San Pietro and its superb Gothic marble rose window; Manarola invites you to discover the perfect alignment of its colorful houses; while Riomaggiore offers the powerful silhouette of the two circular towers of its Riomaggiore castle. And don't miss the via dei Santuari, a path linking the sanctuaries of each of the five villages built on the ridge line as a symbol of devotion and protection. Here you'll discover the sublime sobriety of Manarola's single-nave Santuario di Nostra Signora della Salute. The ridge is also dotted with watchtowers designed to protect its jewels from pirate attacks!
Genoese Splendors
The Republic commissioned Galeazzo Alessi, a disciple of Michelangelo, to modernize the city's fortifications. The Porta Siberia is one of his masterpieces. The sumptuous dome of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo and, above all, the incredible Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta were also designed by this great Renaissance figure, whose beautiful dome and astonishing symmetry are said to have been inspired by Bramante's designs for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The architect was also responsible for Liguria's very first suburban villa: Villa Giustiniani-Cambiaso, with its astonishing cubic structure divided into three parts. On the outskirts, don't miss the Villa Saluzzo-Bombrini designed by Andrea Vannone, who was responsible for another Renaissance masterpiece, the Loggia dei Mercanti, with its twin-columned arcades, mascaron-filled facade and ornate bas-reliefs. Galeazzo Alessi also designed many of the palaces lining Via Garibaldi, formerly known as Strada Nuova. Broken through in 1551, this street testifies to the unprecedented power attained by the Republic of Genoa. Financiers and shipowners vied with each other in the splendor and audacity of their palaces, such as Palazzo Lercari, Palazzo Nicolosio Lomellino and Palazzo Spinola. While each palace was adapted to its location and the desires of its patrons, they all shared common features: 3 or 4 storeys, majestic entrance halls with impressive staircases, large courtyards, loggias overlooking gardens that were often terraced due to the city's topography, and a wealth of stucco and paint decoration. All this splendor attracted covetousness, including that of the government, which was determined to make the most of it. That's how, in 1576, an edict drew up a list(rollo) of the most beautiful palaces likely to be able to welcome the Republic's distinguished guests. The residences were divided into 3 categories according to their degree of pomp and splendor. Category 1 for princes and cardinals, category 2 for governors and large landowners, and category 3 for ambassadors and second-ranking personalities. Once the category had been determined according to the importance of the guest, lots were drawn to allocate the residences... and all costs were borne by the palace owners. A clever, thrifty government! A system that continued into the 17th century, as wealthy families continued to build the most sumptuous palaces, as evidenced by those on the new Via Balbi, where the frescoes and trompe-l'oeil of the great Genoese masters are a marvel of Baroque effervescence. The Palazzo Reale, with its hall of mirrors and gilding, is a fine example. Don't miss the gardens and ponds, adorned with superb pebble mosaics. Known as risseu, a name derived from the French word ruisseau, this technique consists in creating astonishing patterned mosaics from black, white and, more rarely, red pebbles collected from nearby waterways... Millions of pebbles and several years of work were needed to create just one of these masterpieces! These mosaics are to be found in the Palazzo Bianco, with its sumptuous hanging gardens, which together with the Palazzo Rosso, with its incredible collection of paintings, forms the city's most famous palace duet. Other not-to-be-missed Baroque masterpieces include Genoa's Chiesa del Gesu, with its marble inlaid floor and dome from which the arms and legs of the figures painted by Giovanni Battista Carlone literally seem to emerge; and the Church of Santi Giacomo e Filippo in Taggia, whose plans are said to have been drawn by Bernini, the great Baroque master nicknamed the "second Michelangelo".
This decorative abundance is also to be found in the villages of the Ligurian coast, with their tall, multi-storey houses covered in coloured plaster, themselves embellished with astonishing trompe-l'œil, giving these modest dwellings the appearance of palaces (false balconies, niches for statues...). Camogli is the finest example. These treasures must continue to be protected by further reinforcement of the fortifications. In Genoa, the Parco Urbano delle Muro (Urban Park of the Walls) takes you on a 12 km tour of the forts and fortifications that were erected on the ridge line to defend the city. These Mura Nuove protect a city whose port has become a veritable city within the city, with warehouses, shipyards and arsenals now secured by a new dike: the Molo Nuovo.
Effervescent 19th century
The 19th century was the century of the upper middle classes, who dreamed of nothing more than a more modern, airy and rational city - in other words, a city that broke with the codes of the past. The Via Roma, paved in marble, and the Via XX Settembre, 850 m long and lined with arcades, are the great representatives of this rectilinear and airy urbanism, but it was necessary to raze many neighborhoods, expropriate a number of inhabitants and even move a church to make this project a reality! These new arteries serving large central squares saw the appearance of new buildings blending historicism and modernity. Their facades, borrowing from Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles, cover structures made entirely of reinforced concrete for the first time, and feature all modern comforts, including electricity. Some also bear the hallmarks of the Italian Art Nouveau style known as Liberty, with its undulating shapes inspired by nature. Gino Coppede, the great architect of the period, mischievously blended borrowings from the past with innovative forms, as in the Villa Canali Gaslini. His style is echoed in the astonishing elevators and funiculars installed by the municipality. The Ascensore Portello-Castelletto Levante is the finest example... originally lined with Liberty ceramics. This elevator leads to a district unique to Genoa, the Castelletto, which has been completely redesigned as a residential area, offering sumptuous views over the city. Gino Coppede designed the Castello Bruzzo, a nod to the history of this ancient citadel. This eclecticism is echoed in Genoa's most fascinating site: the Staglieno cemetery, a superb park housing treasures of funerary architecture and sculpture. This period also saw the development of seaside tourism. Corso Italia, reminiscent of Nice's Promenade des Anglais, saw the emergence of eclectic Liberty villas and sumptuous bathing establishments. Other seaside resorts were also developing, such as Alassio, San Remo and Nervi, with their beautiful Liberty hotels, sumptuous parks created by merging the gardens of the Serra, Grapallo and Grimaldi villas, and the unusual Passeggiata Anita Garibaldi, a pretty promenade designed along the railroad line.
Modern and contemporary architecture
In the 1920s-1930s, Genoa was marked by the work of Marcello Piacentini, a leading exponent of Fascist rationalism, combining rigor, monumentalism and borrowing from ancient codes. In 1923, he created the large Piazza della Vittoria, from which emerges the impressive Arch of Victory, a sort of triumphal arch with ornamented pillars sculpted with allegories. Built between 1937 and 1941, Torre Piacentini, 108 m high, was the city's first skyscraper . In the 1960s, buoyed by the prosperity of its industries, Genoa embarked on major urban development projects, the impact of which was, to say the least, unfortunate. The Sopraelevata, a gigantic freeway built on concrete piles, dates from this period. This concrete development is also affecting tourist areas such as Rapallo, the largest resort on the Portofino Promontory. Already, however, a number of projects are making their voices heard in a new way, in harmonious dialogue with the heritage of the past. In the 1960s, Riomaggiore became the new stronghold of Argentine painter, muralist and sculptor Silvio Benedetto, who left his mark all over the town, as seen on the facades of the town hall and railway station. In Genoa in the 1970s, architects and designers Franca Helg and Franco Albini transformed the cloisters of the Sant'Agostino church into the Museum of Ligurian Architecture and Sculpture.
As Genoa prepares to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, the city entrusts Renzo Piano with the transformation of the Porto Antico. Under the pencil strokes of the man who defends an architecture based on the genius of place and experimentation, the old port and its arsenals are transformed into a place for living and strolling. By removing the port's perimeter fence, Renzo Piano has given the city direct access to the sea and revitalized a site that had lost some of its lustre with the relocation of the new port infrastructure to the west, where Il Matitone, or "the pencil", stands at 108.5 m tall and is the tallest building in the city. Designed by the American firm SOM and Italians Mario Lanata and Andrea Messina, the octagonal shape of the building is reminiscent of the city's bell towers... But let's return to Porto Antico and the work of Renzo Piano. Here, the architect imagined the Bigo, an astonishing elevator that propels you 40 m into the air in the manner of a ship's loading crane, and, above all, he designed some of the most beautiful structures in the city's Aquarium. His work includes the Biosphère, an astonishing bubble of glass and steel, and the Pavillon des Cétacés, a reinforced concrete parallelepiped 94 m long, 28 m wide and 23 m high (10 of which are underwater!). Although he lives and works in Paris, Renzo Piano, winner of the prestigious Pritzker Prize (the Nobel Prize for architecture), remains deeply attached to his native city. That's why he offered Genoa the design of the Genoa-Saint George Viaduct, "a simple and straightforward bridge, but not an ordinary one, which resembles a ship moored in the valley, a bridge in bright, clear steel, a sober bridge that respects the character of the Genoese". At 1,067 m long, this steel bridge supported by 43 luminous pillars is the architect's tribute to the 43 victims of the collapse of the Morandi Bridge on August 14, 2018, which his Viaduct, inaugurated in 2020, will now replace. At the same time, the city is continuing the major restoration campaigns launched in the early 2000s as Genoa prepared to become European Capital of Culture. In 2023, a new project began, the first stage of which is scheduled for 2026 and the final stage for 2030. This involves the construction of a 6 km-long breakwater (the current port is 22 km long) 50 m deep, to accommodate very large ships, enabling the city's commercial traffic to increase considerably.
