If Venice is the beautiful doyen of Italian City States, Genoa is its scruffy, aggressive cousin. Rivals in the same field, they were often in fierce, and sometimes bloody, competition. Both cities were fantastically wealthy trading nations during the Middle Ages, busy facilitating the trade between the East and Western Europe, and both used that money to good effect. Genoa formed one of the first banks, anywhere, providing credit to businesses and rulers throughout the medieval world. At one stage it is said that Spain’s debt to Genoa was such that the King could not wage war without the approval of its bankers
Venice, with its glorious canals and grand buildings, is a spacious and elegant construction that dazzles all that see it. Genoa, however, trapped between the mountains and the sea grew into one of the densest cities in Europe. Hundreds of palaces and churches are dotted around the city, but the high, dense tenements of the workers quarters around the docks are what have come to define this great port city. It was in these same tenements that the plague first arrived in Europe. Genoa was also plagued by continual feuding between the half dozen or so most powerful families in the city. Each had their own territory to defend and each built higher and closer as the geographical limitations of their power dictated.
The result for today’s visitor is one of the most challenging and evocative cities in Europe. The sheer range of palaces and monuments is such that you could never see all of them in one visit. The old town of narrow alleys and tiny courtyards is as atmospheric as any in Europe. Some areas, towards the main railway station and behind the docks, are less salubrious than most visitors will be happy with, but safe enough during daylight hours. However, the commercial heart of the old town is more welcoming, packed with tiny shops, bars and restaurants, with alleys sometimes so narrow that two people can barely pass. Few cities in Europe can have retained such a complete example of medieval worker’s quarters – there is little beauty on offer but the dense network of narrow alleys or carrugi is how many such cities must have been.
The old docks beside the city centre have largely ceased commercial operations and are converted to leisure and cultural uses, including the huge and hugely impressive MuMA (Museum of the Sea), charting the city’s long and involved relationship with the sea, and the Renzo Piano designed Aquarium, one of the largest in Europe. Other museums and galleries are dotted around the city in the various palaces that have been brought into public ownership.
Genoa must be one of the most distinctive cities in Europe. It is easy to see how it has missed the tourist boom. While Venice may now be suffering from the sheer number of tourists, Genoa sits defiantly alongside its working port, dark, claustrophobic, dirty and dangerous. It’s not going to push the boat out to attract tourists but if you want to come and are open-minded, then a sort of gruff welcome awaits the visitor.
Oldgreytravel stayed at the astonishingly cheap, central and well-appointed B&B Hotel Genova.
