Travel guide Gênes
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Edition 2024/2025
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How to travel à GÊNES
How to go alone
You will not have any particular difficulty in reaching and visiting Genoa alone. The city is served by the Cristoforo Colombo airport, which is connected to the center of Genoa by public transport. The maritime stations connect Genoa with the main Mediterranean ports. The railroad lines represent a practical and efficient solution not only to reach the Ligurian capital but also to circulate there. Finally, there are four highways that serve Genoa. Accommodation is easy, there are many hotels and accommodations for vacation rentals.
How to go on a tour
Genoa is not the Italian destination most proposed by tour operators, nevertheless several formulas are available to you, the one of a three-day weekend with flight and accommodation is the most common. It can be practical for a short period of time and advantageous. Other stays combine a visit to Genoa and the discovery of Liguria.
How to get around
Public transport, managed by AMT, covers the whole city of Genoa with 138 bus lines, 1 subway line that serves 7 tourist places, 2 funiculars and 10 elevators that connect the city center to the upper city and its panoramas, 1 cog railway from 1901 that connects Principe to Granarolo, 1 narrow-gauge railway line that connects Genoa to Casella, a small town in the hinterland, with a route through the countryside and 1 fast line by sea, the Navebus that connects Pegli, in the west, to Porto Antico, in the center, in less than 30 minutes.
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Discover GÊNES
Picturesque and charming, haughty and capricious, aristocratic and popular, Genoa is a city of contrasts, terribly seductive and unlike any other. A glorious city that inspired so many poets, so close to France and so different at the same time... At the heart of Liguria, Genoa is divided between land and sea, which it has feared and tamed for centuries. The infrastructure of the new port bears witness to this. In the city center, its many palaces and museums invite you to take an instructive and aesthetic tour. Its shady caruggi are a labyrinth of smells, tastes and scents, home to decadently charming boutiques and bistros. It's the perfect place to extend an evening on a terrace or stroll through the lively neighborhoods. The many trade fairs the town organizes promote all its riches: nature, ecology, culture, heritage, sports, agriculture, gastronomy...
The 12 keywords à GÊNES
#Aperitivo
A tradition well established in Genoa. More than a preamble to the meal, the aperitif is a social ritual that takes place every evening between 7 and 9 pm, often served with a generous helping of nibbles. The custom is said to have been handed down from bartenders serving on transatlantic liners, who learned the art of concocting cocktails.
#Botteghe storiche
More than fifty stores have been operating for 70 years or more throughout Genoa's historic center, preserving their original decor and traditional tools. A true heritage of confectioners, weavers, dressmakers, barbers, druggists... All guardians of the know-how of yesteryear.
#Cantautori
The Genoese chansonniers represent a whole generation of young singers who, in the late 1950s, revolutionized the style of Italian music. Among others, Luigi Tenco, Fabrizio De André, Gino Paoli and a whole group of friends wrote memorable, innovative lyrics, replacing the usual melodies with real poems.
#Caruggi
These narrow alleys, intertwined as in a labyrinth, are the most characteristic element of the Genoese urban landscape and of Ligurian cities in general. Woven in this way to disperse invaders in case of incursion, even the contemporary visitor loses his orientation, fortunately easy to find.
#Votive Edicts
Almost every crossroads in Genoa's historic center has its own religious aedicula. Guilds and private individuals used to erect them for protection. Made of marble or slate, some are veritable works of art. There are some 330 of them, built between the Middle Ages and the early 20th century.
#Fantasmi
In this city with a history stretching back thousands of years, the past has left behind not only vestiges, but also ghost stories that have been the talk of the town. And these ghosts continue to appear. Most appear to occupants where they once lived, while others, more daring, wander around specific sites.
#Focaccia
Who knows why this ancient poor man's dish is so beloved in Genoa? Its success lies in the simplicity of its ingredients. Flour, olive oil and salt; it is said that in the villages, naturally salted seawater was used. Creamy and delicious, it's part of Genoa's cultural heritage, and a must-try.
#Grifone
An emblem of strength and daring, the griffin is the symbol of Genoa, present on its coat of arms and in its iconography. When Genoa became part of Savoy, the griffin with its tail raised was required to "lower its tail" on official effigies. An affront to the Genoese, who were quick to raise it once the monarchy had fallen.
#Palazzi
More than 80 Renaissance and Baroque palaces dot the central streets of Genoa's historic center. These magnificent residences preserve collections of exceptional works of art. While you'll only be able to visit the palaces that have been converted into museums, many of them open their doors to the public during Rolli Days.
#Pesto
It's the symbol of Genoa and Liguria. Made from simple ingredients (basil, pine nuts, pecorino or parmesan, garlic and olive oil), the real thing for Genoese is made with basil from Prà, one of Genoa's western districts. Today, pesto is one of the most sought-after products in the world.
#Risseu
This term refers to the traditional black-and-white pebble pavement patterns that decorate squares and church squares in Genoa and the surrounding region, an elaborate figurative art form that is among the most accomplished in Liguria. The harvested pebbles are arranged in various decorative patterns, for a highly artistic result.
#Rolli
Established between 1576 and 1644, the Rolli system designates these parchment scrolls on which were inscribed the addresses of the palaces of Genoa that had the honor of receiving the high dignitaries passing through the Republic. A real prestige! There are five copies of this system, now preserved in the State Archives of Genoa.
You are from here, if...
At breakfast, you dip your focaccia into your coffee or, even better, your cappuccino.
You take one of the city's funicular elevators back home (or just to enjoy the panorama from the city's heights).
You stroll through the caruggi of the center like a fish in water, without getting lost along the way.
You can get a haircut, buy a bag of sweets or have your shoes repaired in one of the town's century-old boutiques.
In the evening, you'll head off to Piazza delle Erbe or Piazza Lavagna to buy a cocktail and sip it in the public square, surrounded by beautiful people.
At weekends, you pack your swimsuits and head off to the beaches of one of the Riviera's eastern or western shores.
You eat pesto pasta at least once a week.
You visit the De André Via del Campo boutique as if it were a sanctuary.
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