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Discover Genoa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with its palaces, museums, events and gastronomy. Plan your stay, buy tickets online and explore the city with virtual tours and guided experiences.
Genoa (/ ˈ dʒ ɛ n oʊ ə / JEN-oh-ə, Italian: Genova, Italian: [ˈdʒɛːnova] ⓘ; Ligurian: Zêna, Ligurian:) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2023, 558,745 people lived within the city's administrative limits.
Jul 27, 2023 · Learn why Genoa is a great destination for exploring the Italian Riviera, with its medieval town center, palaces, museums and cuisine. Find out when to go, how long to stay and how to get around this northern city with a southern lifestyle.
- Overview
- Geography
- History
Genoa, city and Mediterranean seaport in northwestern Italy. It is the capital of Genova provincia and of Liguria regione and is the centre of the Italian Riviera. Its total area is 93 square miles (240 square km).
Located about 75 miles (120 km) south of Milan on the Gulf of Genoa, the city occupies a narrow coastal plain and the western slopes of the Apennine Range. The city has a mild Mediterranean climate.
Shipbuilding is the major industry; other industries produce petroleum, textiles, iron and steel, locomotives, paper, sugar, cement, chemicals, fertilizers, and electrical, railway, and marine equipment. Genoa also is a major centre for finance and commerce. The port of Genoa leads all other Italian ports in volume of passengers and freight traffic and is the main source of city income. It handles imports chiefly of coal, crude oil, and grain and exports mainly of cotton and silk textiles, olive oil, and wine.
Genoa was the birthplace of Christopher Columbus (1451), who embodied the active maritime tradition of the city. It is noted for its many examples of medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Gothic architecture. The Ducal Palace, San Lorenzo Cathedral, Church of San Matteo, and Palazzo San Giorgio are some of the most important historical monuments. The Palazzo Bianco and the Palazzo Rosso are the two largest picture galleries; Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art and the Cathedral Treasury have extensive medieval collections. The Strade Nuove (now Via Garibaldi) and the Palazzi dei Rolli, the first European examples of an urban development project with a unitary framework, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2006. The University of Genoa (founded 1471) is an important centre of higher learning in northern Italy. The city also has several commercial colleges and a school of navigation.
Genoa is linked with the major cities of Italy, France, and Switzerland by railway and highways. Its port serves as the chief outlet for the agricultural and industrial products of northern Italy and much of central Europe. Cristoforo Colombo International Airport, situated 4 miles (6.5 km) west of the city, provides domestic and international flights.
In ancient times, what probably began as a Ligurian village on the Sarzano Hill overlooking the natural port (today Molo Vecchio) prospered through contacts with the Etruscans and the Greeks. As a flourishing Roman municipium it became a road junction, a military port, and a market of the Ligurians. After the fall of the Roman Empire, followed by invasions of Ostrogoths and Lombards, Genoa long existed in comparative obscurity as a fishing and agrarian centre with little trade. By the 10th century, however, the general demographic and economic upswing of Europe brought fresh opportunity and enabled the Genoese to answer the challenge of Muslim raids vigorously. A Fatimid fleet stormed and sacked the town (934 or 935), but the Genoese raised their walls anew and counterattacked under the leadership of their bishop and of the local viscounts. Soon, Genoese merchant ships were trading briskly in the western Mediterranean and calling at Palestinian seaports.
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Before 1100 a voluntary association (compagna) of all citizens who would contribute arms, capital, or labour to the life of the community generated the independent commune of Genoa; executive power was vested in a number of “consuls” yearly elected by a popular assembly. The ruling class consisted chiefly of petty noblemen and affluent bourgeois. Maritime commerce was the dominant activity. During the 12th and 13th centuries Genoa played a leading role in the commercial revolution that Europe was undergoing. It became a town of about 100,000 inhabitants, a naval power dealing on equal terms with the greatest monarchies, and a commercial centre rivaled only by Venice in the Levant trade and competing with other Italian towns in trade with western Europe. Eastern spices, dyestuffs and medicaments, western cloth and metals, African wool, skins, coral, and gold were the main articles of a very diversified international commerce. Banking and shipbuilding flourished, and the local textile industry made a good start.
At the same time, the Genoese brought all of Liguria, most of Corsica, and northern Sardinia under their direct or indirect control and founded self-governing commercial colonies all around the Mediterranean coast. Many of these colonies were the result of Genoese participation in the Crusades and of shorter campaigns by the Genoese alone in Spain, Africa, and the Levant, but some were set up by peaceful penetration and diplomatic bargaining. They ranged in size from individual buildings to walled suburbs of towns and, eventually, entire islands or districts of coastal land.
The collapse of the Crusaders’ states, with their Genoese enclaves, in the late 13th century was amply compensated by Genoa’s alliance with the Byzantine Empire under the Treaty of Ninfeo (1261), which paved the way for a great expansion in the Black Sea. Pera (modern Beyoglu), the Genoese independent suburb of Constantinople, gradually outstripped the Byzantine capital in economic development, and Kaffa (modern Feodosiya) became the capital of a broad stretch of the Crimean coast ruled by the Genoese. Many Aegean islands became independent Genoese principalities.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Discover Genoa, Italy's largest sea port and a former maritime republic with a rich history and culture. Explore its old city, palaces, museums, beaches and more with Lonely Planet's tips and recommendations.
Jan 26, 2020 · Due to the cities illustrious history, Genoa has a host of welcoming Piazzas, decorative palaces and fantastic churches; it offers a variety of first class tourist attractions together with opportunities for shopping and fine dining.
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Sep 22, 2023 · Discover Genoa, Italy's historic port city with a vibrant culture, cuisine, and panoramas. Learn how to get there, when to go, where to stay, and what to do in this comprehensive guide.
