We arrive at the Genoa Piazza Principe station. It is one of the two main stations in Genoa together with the Genoa-Brignole station. Genoa Piazza Principe station owes its name to the nearby Palazzo del Principe. That is a beautiful sixteenth-century villa built as a private residence by Andrea Doria, currently open to the public as a museum.

Prince Andrea Doria, leader and symbol of Genoa

Admiral prince Andrea Doria was born in 1466 in Oneglia into a family that owned feudal titles. He took the path of arms at a very young age. In fact, he was orphaned around the age of seventeen. In 1485 he obtained a post as an officer in Rome. He then took up the job of a soldier of fortune, that is, a mercenary. Doria became a sailor Man in old age. Despite this, he attested to significant successes. At the head of the fleet, in 1513, he inspected the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, avoiding the threat of Barbary pirates. On the island of Pianosa he razed the fleet of the corsair Godoli to the ground.

A fighter of a thousand virtues

Another story that makes Andrea Doria a mythical leader for the Genoese is the destruction of the French Bridle. The Bridle surmounted the harbor. When the French sent a warship there, Andrea Doria, who led the fleet, put in place a strategy that ended with the taking of the vessel. The prince finally destroyed the Bridle in 1514. This is just one of the admiral's many feats. Also to his troops we owe the conquest of Savona in October 1528.

Acquaverde square in Genoa Principe
The monument of Christopher Columbus in piazza Acquaverde in Genoa ©

Doria fought for a long time. His naval operations to discourage the incursions of Turkish pirates continued in 1540. In those years he was given the pirate Dragut, whom he chained to the oars of his own ship as a convict. Until he was released with the payment of a ransom. Andrea Doria led fleets up to over seventy years of age. The Church of San Matteo in Genoa houses the burial of the prince admiral, who died in November 1560.

Via Balbi: the baroque in the center of Genoa

Leaving the “Genova Piazza Principe” railway station, we find ourselves in Piazza Acquaverde, surmounted by the statue of Christopher Columbus. From here we easily take via Balbi, one of the main baroque streets of Genoa. This road was built by the will of Stefano Balbi, a member of a family of Genoese bankers. Continuing along via Balbi we see piazza della Nunziata. In addition to finding good focaccerie, in via Balbi - cleverly designed by Bartholomew White in 1585 and remained almost totally unchanged today - we can meet shops and splendid buildings.

Via Balbi
A glimpse of via Balbi in Genoa ©

Sumptuous Baroque palaces show themselves to us: they are mostly part of the Palaces of the Rolli, World Heritage Site. The main pole ofUniversity of Genoa it is located right in via Balbi. Not far away is the precious University Library of Genoa.

University of Genoa
The main center of the University of Genoa ©

In the casket of the Palazzi dei Rolli we find Royal Palace, built starting in 1618. The palace was bought in 1677 by the Durazzo family. Currently it can be visited as a museum.

The Salita di Santa Brigida: a suggestive place stained with black news

Along via Balbi we cross a side street that is characterized by wide and thin steps: it is a climb. Let's try to look up and towards the top we see a further series of steps that lead to the buildings. We can't see more as they are hidden by beautiful summer flowers. There Ascent of Santa Brigida it is a quiet, welcoming-looking climb. At the top there is an area that in ancient times was a hilly area overflowing with water and vegetation.

Staircase of Santa Brigida by day
Ascent of Santa Brigida in Genoa ©

Bridget was a Swedish princess who gave it all away when her beloved husband passed away, and began to wander. She became a saint and during her long pilgrimages she too stopped in Genoa. Around 1400 some nuns there founded the Monastery of Santa Brigida. The climb is softened by a stone arch which was nothing more than the entrance to the monastic complex.

Ascent of Santa Brigida in the evening
The Ascent of Santa Brigida in the evening ©

In this place, rich in silence and spirituality, there is also a commemorative plaque. In fact, this staircase is stained by a very sad episode. In June 1976 in Salita Santa Brigida, the attorney general of Genoa Francesco Coco and two officers of the escort were murdered by a commando of the Red Brigades.

The arrival at the ancient port of Genoa: between Galata Museo del Mare and the Aquarium

Continuing along via Balbi we will find ourselves in front of Piazza della Nunziata. Here we can proceed along via delle Fontane and go down towards the ancient port. Just before crossing, we will notice the mythical District of Pre, close to the oldest port area. Proceeding along via Prè you can reach via del Campo, a road made famous by the songs of Fabrizio De André. We cross at the traffic lights and go into the Calata Rotonda walk. Here we find ourselves in front of the wonderful port and the Aquarium of Genoa, the largest aquarium in Europe.

Genova's aquarium
The largest aquarium in Europe ©

The exhibition path of the Genoa Aquarium shows over seventy environments and about 12.000 specimens of six hundred species from all the seas of the world. Very special jellyfish, seals e colorful fish tropicali they are the scenario in which the visitor can get lost. The journey begins in the semi-darkness with the moray eel cave.

internal Genoese church
Internal Genoese churches ©

In the kingdom of ice it is also possible to observe some specimens of gentoo penguins and Magellanic penguin. The journey ends with four open-air tanks that house a nucleus of coastal dolphins.

Going into the stories of the ancient port: towards new seas

“There - I want to be: and I trust / In me, from now on, and in my helm. / Open is the sea: in her dark blue / My Genoese pushes herself. / Everything ever newer shines upon me / He sleeps on space and time noon: / It is only your eye - oh infinitude! / How immense he is looking at me! ”. even Nietzsche, who saw himself as the discoverer of a new world, made of Christopher Columbus his hero and his symbol.

Sailing ship in the ancient port
A sailing ship in the ancient port of Genoa ©

THE Area of ​​the Porto Antico, is a vast area - more than 230.000 square meters - overlooking the sea, full of points of artistic, museum, tourist interest as well as a residential area. The ancient port also houses some seventeenth-century buildings. In terms of entertainment we find in addition to the suggestive aquarium, a panoramic lift and the Biosphere. The latter, designed by Renzo Piano and made of glass and steel, it is located in the sea next to the aquarium and is home to various species of tropical plants. A singular design element, also conceived by Renzo Piano, is the Bigo, which is the backdrop to the ancient port. On the Bigo rests the panoramic lift which, reaching the top of the structure, allows you to observe the port landscape from above in its entirety.

Bigo of Genoa
Bigo in the old port of Genoa ©

Eugenio Montale: the nobel prize who never forgot Genoa

“When I came into the world Genoa was one of the most beautiful and typical Italian cities. The sea of gray slate roofs it left incomparable hanging gardens in the open. And starting from the royal street in the center, a spider's web of alleys reached as far as the port. […] But Genoa I would not know how to forget it ”. Eugenio Montale, the accountant who in 1975 won the Nobel Prize for literature for his "distinct poetics", he was born in Genoa on 12 October 1896.

the Genoese roofs in the evening
Roofs of Genoa ©

His childhood and adolescence are marked by the Ligurian coastal landscape. A “rough and essential” landscape in his debut collection "Cuttlefish bones". For Montale who admired his places, "Things seem to unravel due to an excess of light". And that's the feeling we have too. We realize, in fact, that in our photographs the blinding sun makes the monuments we would like to immortalize disappear.

My life I do not ask you ...

“My life, I do not ask you for fixed features, plausible faces or possessions. In your restless round they now taste the same honey and wormwood. The heart that every motion holds in vile rare is shaken by jolts. This is how a rifle shot sometimes sounds in the silence of the countryside ”. The central theme of Cuttlefish bones it is the aridity of human existence and the evil of living. The collection of Ossi di Seppia ends with poetry "Riviere", dating back to 1920.

Villas of Genoa
Glimpses of Genoa ©

In River Montale tells of the Ligurian beaches, abandoning himself to the memories of childhood and adolescence. “Riviere, / just a few stalks of sword grass / hanging from a ridge / on the delirium of the sea; / or two pale camellias / in the deserted gardens, / and a blond eucalyptus that plunges / between swirls and crazy flights / into the light; / and here in an instant / invisible threads assert themselves to me, / butterfly in a spider / of olive groves, of sunflowers' glances ".

The gastronomic delights of Genoa

"There was one who, since she was on a diet, ate focaccia only in small pieces" (from Il Repertory of the madmen of the city of Genoa). We tasted our excellent Genoese focaccia for the first time at theAncient Osteria of Vico Palla, a historic restaurant whose birth dates back to 1600. In those times the Flemish painter Van Dyck he was a customer of this inn. The Osteria is located in the part of the District of the Molo, and is defined as "the temple of Ligurian cuisine". We immediately notice the delicious oil that accompanies our focaccia: it is a journey into the senses. We then use a Cappon Lean, of the typical ones Mandilli with Genoese pesto and a final Sacripantina cake.

Cappon magro in the Ligurian culinary tradition

Currently the Cappon Magro it is a refined dish and mostly served in restaurants that offer a reinterpretation of it with sauces and prawns. Originally it was a food intended for servants or fishermen on board the boats. It is a dish made up of fish and vegetables and of complex preparation.

Genoese lean cappon
Genoese cappon magro in the version of Antica Osteria di Vico Palla ©

Another specialty is the Mandilli with Genoese pesto, literally "Silk handkerchiefs". These are small lasagna, wide and thin like handkerchiefs, covered with pesto. THE mandibles they are also a dish that is found more and more rarely since, although they are easy to prepare, they require considerable preparation times.

Tasting of Genoa sweets

At the end of our lunch we serve a delicious cake Sacripantin. It is a substantial dessert created in the 1800s which takes its name from Sacripante. He is a character of the epic-chivalric literature of Orlando furioso. The composition of this cake is made of layers of sponge cake filled with butter cream, cocoa cream and Marsala liqueur.

The Genoese pandolce

The Genoese pandolce is mostly used in view of Christmas, however it can be found in any period. It is a dessert containing a high amount of raisins. Its origins date back to the sixteenth century by the will of Prince Andrea Doria, who wished to have a representative dessert of the Maritime Republic made. The ancient recipe called for a tall pandolce; today we can also find the low pandolce.

Genoese pasta or Genoese

La Genoese it is a cake with a dough similar to sponge cake but made with the use of butter, which makes it much softer. There Genoese it is a delicate cake that can be filled with creams in its classic version or fresh fruit in reinterpretations. It can also form the basis for other cakes. It is prepared with flour, eggs, sugar and butter and requires a sprinkling of icing sugar.

The canestrelli

The origins of the canestrelli are very ancient, however i shortcrust pastry canestrelli, more recent, come from the Ligurian tradition. In fact, they would be placed in the 800th century in Torriglia. With a simple and inviting flavor, they are prepared with flour, butter, egg yolks and egg whites, sugar, salt and lemon zest. The aesthetic is also very simple and pretty: they have the shape of a daisy with a central hole.

Notes: I would like to thank Daniele for having accompanied me in the discovery of the beauties of Genoa.

Genoa: walking through the alleys of the 'Superba' last edit: 2022-06-28T15:30:00+02:00 da Antonella Marchisella

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