The skylines and views of Genova

The combination of the mountain backdrop, medieval towers, modern highrises in the harbour and "skyscrapers" from the 1930s make the skyline of Genova a by European standards, an interesting skyline. The highrises are not very tall ( just a bit above 100m) and most of them are located in the harbour, but some taller "real" skyscrapers are planned.

The skyline of the new harbour (Porto Vecchio) seen from the old harbour (Porto Antico):

Il Matitone (right) is dominating the skyline. At 109 m it is the city's tallest building to the roof height. It has 26 floors and was built in 1992. The black/blue glass building to the left is World Trade Center Genoa, 102m tall.

The skyline stretching further to the south to include La Lanterna, the world's oldest lighthouse (from 1544) that is still in use and one of the five tallest (76 m tall).

Il Matitone and some highrises on the rock.

One of many large ships in the new harbour.

City center skyline, looking to the East from the old harbour (Porto Antico):

Towers from the left: Torre Cantore, Torre Teatro Carlo Felice, Grimaldi Tower at the Ducal Palace, St Lawrence Cathedral, Dante 2 building, Torre Piacentini (Martini Tower) and some unknown medieval towers.

Two of Europe's first "skyscrapers" can be seen here. Torre Piacentini, also called Terrazza Martini Tower from 1940 (31 floors, 116m to the spire and Genova's tallest building to the spire). To the left is Torre Grimaldi and St Lawrence Cathedral.

The skyline seen from the ferry terminal in the new harbour (Port Vecchio):

The city center and Porto Antico.

City center from ferry terminal.

East part of Genoa seen from the new harbour.

WTC in the new harbour.

New harbour skyline at sunset.

The skyline to the East from our hotel:

The skyline from the terrace of our hotel, Bellevue, with Il Matitone to the left.

The same view with the Principe Station in the front, Genoa's main station.

The highrises to the south from the terrace of Hotel Bellevue.

La Lanterna to the left and Il Matitone to the right.

Via Garibaldi

Via Garibaldi, formerly called Strada Nuova, is an impressive street in central Genova. It was inscribed in the World Heritage List in 2006. The first time we only came to the street by coincidence, in the late evening. It was designed in the 16th century to accomodate Mannerist palaces for important Genovese families when Genova was a powerful city-state. Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Bianco, Palazzo Grimaldi, a famous art college and Musei di Strada Nuova are all situated on the street. It is possible to get inside many of these splendid palaces daytime.

Via Garibaldi (Strada Nuova) with Palazzo Bianco (the white palace) from 1540 to the left and Palazzo Rosso (the red palace) from 1677 to the right. Both has art galleries.

 

Galleria Brignole-Sale de Ferrari.

Palazzo Bianco.

Inside Palazzo Bianco.

The entrances to the courtyards are often open and inviting from the street.

Palazzo Grimaldi.

Grimaldi is the powerful Royal family in Monaco.

A beautiful waterfall on the courtyard inside one of the palaces.

Deutsche Bank is one of many financial corporation with offices in the palaces of Via Garibaldi.

 

Via Garibaldi after dark:

The first time we saw Via Garibaldi, it was dark.

Palazzo Rosso by night. There is an art museum inside this famous palace.

City center and the Old Town

The city center, is one of Europe's most historical and wellpreserved. The heart of Genoa is Piazza Ferrari. The second most important square is called Piazza Corvetto. I found it a bit funny that these 2 squares both made me think about sports cars, Ferrari and Corvette. The most famous street in central Genoa is Via Garibaldi that is presented on its own page, and Via Balbi, both have beautiful Mannerist palaces. At Piazza Dante you can find Europe's 2 first skyscrapers, the gate to the old town and the house where Columbus is said to have been born. Right next to the renovated old harbour, you can find the Old Town with its many wellpreserved, but often very rundown and very narrow alleys. There is a very bohemic feeling about the Old Town, you got the feeling of walking in a poor medieval city with hills and small shops.

Piazza de Ferrari:

Piazza de Ferrari, Genoa's main square.

Terrazza Martini Tower, Europe's first "skyscraper" from 1940, seen behind the Agorà fountain on Piazza de Ferrari.

The Opera House of Genoa. The 63 m tall addition, Torre Teatro Carlo Felice, was added in 1990.

Regione Liguria's building at Piazza de Ferrari.

Palazzo Ducale, the Ducal Palace of Genova is situated at Piazza de Ferrari, but the entrance is on Piazza Matteotti on Via San Lorenzo. the Ducal Palace was completed in 1539 and is still considered an important building in Genoa. Many ceremonies and activities has taken place inside the building's splendid interior, but we had no time to get inside, since there is so much to see in Genova. A bookshop, a jazz museum, a poetry room, a café/restaurant and an educational centre for kids can be find there. Gimaldina Tower served as a VIP prison for rich criminals.

View towards Palazzo Ducale.

A majestic building between Piazza de Ferrari and Piazza Dante.

Galleria Mazzini is a beautiful, but dead shopping galleria next to Piazza de Ferrari.

Galleria Mazzini is modeled after the much larger galleria in Milano.

Bristol Palace, a nice hotel building near Ferrari.

Piazza de Ferrari after dark (the first time we visited the square). No Ferrari cars could be seen...

The Agorà fountain on the Ferrari square.

The Opera at Ferrari and its tower by night.

Piazza de Ferrari. The streets of Genova fastly becomes empty after dark, something we didn't expect from an Italian city.

Galleria Mazzini by night.

Piazza Dante:

Porta Soprana, the ancient main gate to the Old Town.

The Old Town seen from the gate. It was built in 1155 as the southern gate to the town.

The backside of the Porta Soprana gate. You can climb up to get views over the side, something that we missed unfortunately.

Some ruins between Porta Soprana and Columbus house.

The house to the right at Piazza Dante is said to be Christopher Columbus birthplace (something I wasn't aware of when taking the photo), but it is also said that this is wrong and it is only a tourist trap.

Terrazza Martini Tower and Dante 2, two prominent highrises at Piazza Dante. They were two of the first tall highrises in Europe.

Torre Piacentini, also called Terrazza Martini Tower from 1940 is by many considered the first skyscraper of Europe, though it has only 31 floors and is 116m to the spire. There is an observation deck on the top called Columbus Terrace, something that we missed.

A tunnel that goes underneath the two highrises at Via Dante.

We had a good pizza at Grattacielo American Pizzeria & Bar inside the Dante 2 "skyscraper". Grattacielo means skyscraper in Italian. The building is rarely a skyscraper, but was one of the first highrises in Europe.

Looking up Dante 2 highrise from 1939 that is 83 m tall and has 24 floors.

Via Dante, the street that leads from Piazza Dante to Piazza de Ferrari. Note the yellow/grey buses.

Other parts of central Genova:

Piazza Acquaverde.

The Christopher Columbus Statue at Piazza Acquaverde could be seen from our hotel. As Columbus was born in Genova, he is present on many places in the city.

Cristoforo Colombo - the original name of Christopher Columbus. The statue is opposite the station.

Hotel Bellevue was the 3 star hotel were we stayed, that felt rather like a 2 star hotel. The entrance and we had a room at the terrace. We had views over Genova's modern skyline, the nearby Principe railway station and the nearby Columbus statue. It was practic but noisy to stay near the station.

Our room at Hotel Bellevue. There was a smell of smoke or something in the room that we didn't like and

the air condition didn't work, that was very bad in this hot weather. However, the breakfast was ok and the

staff was friendly and the toilet was ok even if there were some problems with it.

Views from our room. The hotel was also close to the port and the city center.

Stazione Principe, is the main railway station in Genova together with Stazione Brignole. That is where we arrived with our train from Sanremo. The buses are yellow and orange in Genova, the same as most other Italian cities.

Grand Hotel Savoia was a 5 star hotel next to our hotel. After dark, there was an impressive lighting on the exterior that shifted from violet to yellow, green and blue.

Some historical building on the hill seen from the train station.

Palazzo Reale at Via Balbi with its museum.

The courtyard of Palazzo Reale.

An trolleybus at Via Balbi, close to our hotel.

Via Balbi.

Chiesa della SS. Annunziata del vastato o guastato. A church near Via Balbi.

Banco di Sardegna.

Piazza Corvetto is the second largest square.

Flotta Lauro, a big shipping line.

The Columbus Statue at Piazza Acquaverdi and Hotel Bellevue, our hotel on the hills.

Old Town:

St Lawrence Cathedral at Piazza San Lorenzo, that was the only square in Genova for the whole Middle Ages, was built in a Mannerist style. Cattedrale di San Lorenzo is its original Italian name.

San Lorenzo Cathedral was probably founded as early as in the 5th or 6th century AD. Because of the small size of San Lorenzo square, it was hard to capture the whole building.

The cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Genova. San Lorenzo reminded me of the Byzantine churches of Marseille.

The bohemic, worn and narrow streets n the old town.

Piazza San Mateo.

Santo Stefano church at Piazza San Mateo.

Palazzo Spinola di Pellicceria.

The road and the highway that differs the Old Town from Porto Antico, the old harbour.

Porto Vecchio - The New Harbour

Porto Vecchio, the new harbour is modern, but not as modern as the newly rebuilt old harbour, Porto Antico. However, the famous lighthouse, The Lanterna that is the world's oldest lighthouse in use, and a number of modern highrises and skyscrapers.

Torre della Lanterna, the tall lighthouse. La Lanterna is the oldest working lighthouse in the world, one of the five tallest, the tallest brick one and the landmark of Genoa.

La Lanterna and Columbus Sea Hotel. The lighthouse is 76m tall and was built in 1544.

Il Matitone from 1992. At 109 m it is the city's tallest building to the roof height.

Il Matitone (right) is dominating the skyline. At 109 m it is the city's tallest building to the roof height. It has 26 floors and was built in 1992. The black/blue glass building to the left is World Trade Center Genoa, 102m tall.

The skyline stretching further to the south to include La Lanterna, the world's tallest lighthouse that is still in use.

A church next to Porto Vecchio.

Many large ferries goes very far from Port Vecchio, for example to Tunisia in Africa. The skyline of the city center can be seen from the ferry terminal.

There is a small mall in the terminal.

The buildings look small compared to the ferry.

Note the classicistic church just to the right of the ferry, it has never been presented before.

World Trade Center Genoa is 102 m tall.

New harbour skyline at sunset.

Porto Antico - The Old Harbour

Despite its name, Porto Antico means the old port, it definately doesn't feel old as much as been renovated and many futuristic and innovative new structures have been built for the 1992 Columbus Expo, most of them deigned by Renzo Piano. Porto Antico also has Europe's second largest aquarium, a large ship museum, a lift designed by Renzo Piano with views (Bigo, the symbol of the Expo), a ship from a Polanski movie and is one of the few places where you can find many palms in Genoa. Many restaurants, hotels, cinemas, shops are also situated in Porto Antico.

The white structures and the pink long building have been designed by the world famous architect Renzo Piano. In the background you can see some towers of the city center. Towers from the left: Torre Cantore, the Opera House Tower, Grimaldi Tower at the Ducal Palace, St Lawrence Cathedral, Dante 2 building, Torre Piacentini (Martini Tower) and some unknown medieval towers.

The ship from Roman Polanski's Italian 80s movie "Pirates" has been moved to Porto Antico. A tourist trap?

It is easy to walk in Porto Antico if you don't walk in the wrong part.

Renzo Piano's pink Porto Antico mall (to the left).

Renzo Piano's roof for an (almost) open air restaurant.

Sunset over Genova, seen from Porto Antico witth the glass globe Biosfera and the skyline of the new harbour, Porto Vecchia in the distance.

Biosfera is a glass globe with tropical trees and greenery inside, just next to the aquarium.

The octopusy like arms hold up the roof of the open air restaurant, all designed by Renzo Piano.

The Bigo is the lift to the left, designed by Renzo Piano, that can take you up to see views over the city. The Bigo was the symbol of the 1992 expo.

Up to the hills or down to the harbour?

The highway divides Porto Antico from the old town. The road somewhat ruins the overall feeling.

Porto Antico with Porto Vecchio and its famous lighthouse in the distance.

 

Galata Museo del Mare, a sea and ship museum.

We walked behind to find a store where you can buy food or something like that, but only found ugly warehouses, fences, crap and parking lots.

 

Christopher Columbus?

Renzo Piano's Porto Antico after dark.

This restaurant in Porto Antico looks good and the pasta with seafood was very good, but the staff is extremely stressful and the prices are too high.

The Aquarium of Genova:

Acquario di Genova, The Aquarium of Genoa. It is the 2nd largest in Europe (after Valencia).

The walkway of the aquarium.

We visited the aquarium on my girlfriend's birthday. It has dolphins, moranons, seals, swordfishes and even penguins (but too many children everywhere!). Enjoy: