Ian R Mitchell

ITALY has such a wealth of wonderful cities that many which would be the jewel in the crown of most other countries can be overlooked. Such is Genoa. Little on the tourist itinerary, this Cinderella of Mediterranean cities is a fascinating place, with a wealth of historical and cultural attractions – and hardly a selfie-stick toting tourist.

In the 19th century Genoa was one of the leading Italian industrial cities with heavy industry and shipbuilding predominant. This tended to put it off the itinerary of travellers, especially as its great historical rival to the east, Venice, captured much of the tourist limelight at that period. Genoa’s prosperity faded with the decline of heavy industry from around 1970 onwards. Having grown to a population of more than 800,000, it has lost 250,000 of those inhabitants over the last 40 years. The city is now turning to its historical and cultural attractions to boost its economy and this policy earned it the accolade of European City of Culture in 2004.

Heavy industrial former boomtown fallen on hard times, re-inventing itself as a city of culture? One that steadily lost population in recent years and has long suffered in comparison with its more glamorous eastern rival? You are getting the picture…Genoa is Glasgow with sunshine, though the southern city gets as much rain (over 40in per annum) as its Scottish counterpart – though most of it falls in autumn and winter, outside the best time to visit. The city even has an equivalent of Partick Thistle, Genoa FC which hasn’t won anything significant in a century. While the still prosperous Turin may be one of the Dear Green Place’s twin cities, giving that status to Genoa would be far more appropriate; the two cities share much from the past, and of the present too. Demotic is the word that best describes both places.

Emerging from the Stazione Principe onto the Piazza Acquaverde, you are immediately presented with a symbol of Genoa’s maritime past. The rather bombastic statue of Christopher Columbus reminds you that this was his home town (a very old house elsewhere in the city has been somewhat dubiously claimed as his birthplace) and that the city’s wealth was always built on its maritime connections.

In the Middle Ages the independent city state of Genoa linked its fortunes to the Spanish and their empire in the Americas, whilst its arch-rival Venice focussed eastwards on the Byzantine Empire. Near the Stazione Principe is the Villa del Principe, the Palazzo built by Andrea Doria, leader of Genoa in the 16th century, under whose leadership the city provided much of the mercenary sea-power that underlay the Spanish trade in slaves and silver from the Americas.

Doria’s palace is truly palatial but the pride of Genoa lies on Via Garibaldi – where the Palazzi dei Rolli group of palaces, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, line both sides of one of the most opulent streets the world has ever seen. Most of these were built in the 16th century when Spain – and Genoa – were at their apogee.

The artist Rubens was so impressed by these palaces that he copied them into a book of architectural drawings, hoping to influence Flemish builders; later Charles Dickens also marvelled at them, even when they were succumbing to decay. Having fallen into disrepair, several have been restored as museums and art galleries, and a combined ticket allows you access to those that are open to visitors.

However, the largest, the Palazzo Nicolo Grimaldi, which functions as Genoa’s town hall, can be wandered around at will. Therein stands a statute of Guiseppe Mazzini, 19th-century visionary of Italian unification, and another of Genoa’s sons.

Genoa’s connection with Italian unification, the Risorgimento, goes even further. It was from its port that Garibaldi sailed with his Thousand Redshirts in 1860 to invade Sicily and start the process of uniting the peninsula under the House of Savoy. Another palace, the Palazzo Balbi in the eponymous street, became the residence of the Savoy kings of the united Italy when they were in Genoa, and is also open to visitors.

Plunge down from the Via Balbi towards the Via Antonio Gramsci and you find yourself in a maze of alleys (caruggi) so narrow you can reach out at times and touch both walls. Bisected by the Via de Pre down which it is just possible to scape a small car, the buildings tower up to 10 stories above your head. This was originally the heart of the medieval city, and in the 19th century it became the poor working class area of Genoa beside the docks. It is now largely inhabited by sub-Saharan Africans with their shops and sweatshops. One thing has not changed, though, this is still the area for the ladies of the night, as it has been for more than two centuries. During the German occupation of Genoa, although the caruggi were strictly out of bounds, soldiers looking for sex would often disappear after entering this beehive, killed by the Resistance which was very strong in the city, and which is commemorated in the Viale Brigata Partigiane. At night the area has several good restaurants and a broader clientele than during the day. It is not to be missed, though it is not for the faint-hearted. Being a traveller in Genoa is not painting by numbers.

In the 19th century, after falling into centuries of decay with the decline of the Spanish empire, Genoa underwent its second economic boom; much of this was based again on the Americas but this time on Italian emigration to North America. Through Genoa’s port left three million or more of the poverty-stricken sons and daughters of Italy, and many of the ships built here were emigrant ships, and much of the port and other facilities around mushroomed for this sorry trade. But wealth it brought to the city and this can be seen in the area round the Piazza de Ferrari to the east of the dock region, where magnificent banks, municipal buildings and hotels reflect this second of Genoa’s glory periods. This epoch can be found, excellently illustrated and explained, in the Galata Museo del Mare in a fine new building in the heart of the still part-derelict dockland of former warehouses and berthings. “Maritime Museum” is a misnomer as the place is much more than that, it is a history of the various rises and falls of a city that is fighting to regain not just its prosperity but also the recognition of its greatness as an Italian city and its contribution to the country’s history.

Other buildings around here, such as the Magazzini del

Cotone, a massive former cotton warehouse, have been converted to shops, restaurants and galleries and the Porto Antico is buzzing with life.

If you tire of palaces and ghettoes, Genoa is easy to get out of. Crammed into a narrow littoral by the sea in front and mountains behind, the city developed a system of funiculars and lifts to avoid the steep ascents from the centre to the periphery. With one of these, at Largo Zecca, you can travel as far as Righi on the city’s outskirts, and visit the ancient system of forts and walls which defended the city from northern invaders. Along these walls a series of extra-urban walks, with magnificent views over the harbour and the mountains can be enjoyed. One of the shorter lifts goes from Via Balbi to the Parco Castello D’Albertis, in which building – a 19th century folly/castle, lies the Museo delle Culture del Mondo, an interesting if eclectic collection of archeological and ethnological artefacts amassed by the self-same Albertis, an independently wealthy 19th century traveller and explorer.

Genoa’s compressed area influenced its gastonomy; there was little space to grow wheat, so potatoes figured prominently in the diet; the traditional meal of the dockworkers and shipyard workers was potatoes and polpo (octopus) fired up together, and this can still be found in the more downmarket cafes, and gnocchi is as common as pasta. And on the limited spaces the Genoese grew pine nuts and basil which contributed to their main gift to the culinary arts – the manufacture of pesto, of which the Genovese claim theirs is the only true variety. Focaccia is another local speciality and it is difficult to dispute the fact that Genovese focaccia is the best in Italy. It is found served almost everywhere in takeaway portions, with every available topping, but best of all it is eaten smeared with a thick layer of…pesto.

Once known as La Superba by its inhabitants, Genoa is making great strides, after decades of difficulty, towards wearing that label proudly again.

FACTFILE.

No direct flights from Scotland. Either fly to Stansted, then on to Genoa, or with Easyjet from Glasgow or Edinburgh direct to Milan Malpensa – flights start from £40 – and take the train to Genoa, less than 100 miles away.

The Hotel Bristol Palace (Via XX Settembre) is just off the Piazza de Ferrari, and is one of the royal House of Savoy’s former residences. It has an incredible five-storey marble oval staircase and an excellent roof terrace restaurant. Rooms start at £115.