Top Historic Sights in Genoa, Italy
Explore the historic highlights of Genoa
Doge's Palace
The Doge"s Palace was once the home of the Doges of Genoa. It is now a museum and a centre for cultural events and arts exhibitions. It is situated in the heart of the city, with two different entrances and façades, the main one on Piazza Matteotti, and the second one on Piazza De Ferrari. The first parts of the Palace were built between 1251 and 1275, during the flourishing period of the Republican history of Geno ...
Founded: 13th century |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Genoa Cathedral
Genoa Cathedral is dedicated to Saint Lawrence (San Lorenzo), and is the seat of the Archbishop of Genoa. The cathedral was consecrated by Pope Gelasius II in 1118 and was built between the twelfth century and the fourteenth century as fundamentally a medieval building, with some later additions. Various altars and chapels have been erected between the 14th and 15th centuries. The small loggia on the north-eastern tower ...
Founded: 1118 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Diocesan Museum
The Diocesan museum of Genoa is located is found inside the old residence of the canons of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo and is accessible through the cloister of San Lorenzo. The cloister, built in the 12th century, is characterized by two levels of arches resting on double Romanesque columns with leaved capitals. In the 17th century two sides of the building were modified, with the double columns substituted with heavy p ...
Founded: 2000 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Porta Soprana
Porta Soprana is the best-known gate of the ancient walls of Genoa. After major restorations carried out between the 19th and 20th centuries, it has regained the appearance it supposedly had at the time of the construction of the so-called Barbarossa walls (1150 ca.).
Founded: c. 1150 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Porta dei Vacca
The monumental Porta dei Vacca gate was one of three built from 1155 as part of a defensive wall system. It"s characteristic circular towers are shared by the other surviving gate, Porta Soprana.
Founded: 1155 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Santa Maria delle Vigne
Santa Maria delle Vigne is a Roman Catholic basilica church in Genoa, northern Italy. It is known from the 10th century. The main altar was completed in 1730 by Giacomo Antonio Ponsonelli. The church is also the final resting place of the leading early Italian composer Alessandro Stradella, who was murdered in 1682.
Founded: 10th century AD |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
San Siro Church
One of the oldest churches in Genoa, San Siro occupies the site of a former church originally dedicated to the apostles. In later centuries, the church was renamed after St Syrus of Genoa, a beatified bishop. Originally the cathedral of Genoa, it stood outside of the original walls, and was vulnerable to attacks from Saracen pirates; the title of Cathedral was transferred to San Lorenzo. There is another church dedicated ...
Founded: 11th century |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Palazzo Reale
Construction of the present Palazzo Reale began in 1618 for the Balbi family. From 1643-1655, work renewed under the direction of the architects Pier Francesco Cantone and Michele Moncino. In 1677, the palace was sold to the Durazzo Family, who enlarged the palace under the designs of Carlo Fontana. In 1823, the palace was sold to the Royal House of Savoy. From 1919, the palace has belonged to the state. The palace con ...
Founded: 1618 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
San Donato Church
San Donato dates from the 12th century and is in Romanesque style. It became a parish under archbishop Siro il Porcello, and was consecrated on May 1, 1189. After the bombardment of 1684 it was restored several times, being again consecrated on December 4, 1892. Other restorations in 1946-1951 have kept its Romanesque appearance. The interior contains a Madonna by the 14th-century painter Nicolò da Voltri; a St ...
Founded: 1189 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato
The Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato construction was begun by the Franciscans in 1520 in a site previously occupied by the small church of Santa Maria del Prato, belonging to the Humiliati. Works were however halted in 1537, and in 1591 the Lomellini family continued the reconstruction, directed by Taddeo Carlone. In the early 17th century the rich Baroque decoration was executed, with Andrea Ansal ...
Founded: 1520 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Porta Siberia
Porta Siberia is a massive gate, dating back to 1551-53. It was the work of Galeazzo Alessi and once formed part of the 16th-century walls. Its name derives from 'cibaria' (foodstuffs), for it was through this gate that the city"s produce passed, both on arrival from the sea and departure towards other ports in the Mediterranean.Once used as a customs area, after the Old Port was restructured it was turned ...
Founded: 1551 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Santo Stefano Church
Santo Stefano church is one of the most outstanding examples of Romanesque architecture in Genoa. It was founded in the Middle Ages as part of an abbey, in the place where previously a 6th-century small church, entitled to St. Michael Archangel, was located. The most ancient document mentioning Santo Stefano dates from 965, although some scholars attribute its foundation in 972 to the then bishop of Genoa, Theodulf, who r ...
Founded: 10th century AD |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Santa Maria di Castello
Santa Maria di Castello is a church and religious complex located in the Castello hill of the city, where in the Middle Ages a bishop"s fortified castle existed. The church is flanked by the large Tower of the Embriaci. The church, in Romanesque style, was erected before 900 AD. It houses many artworks commissioned by the main noble families of Genoa, by artists such as Francesco Maria Schiaffino, Lorenzo Fas ...
Founded: 9th century AD |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
D'Albertis Castle
The Castello d"Albertis was the home of sea captain Enrico Alberto d"Albertis, and was donated to the city of Genoa on his death in 1932. D"Albertis designed the castle in the style of an architectural collage with a Gothic revival appearance inspired by palaces in Florence and castles of Aosta Valley. It currently houses the Museo delle Culture del Mondo (Museum of World Cultures), inaugurated in 2004. Er ...
Founded: 1886 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Lighthouse of Genoa
The Lighthouse of Genoa (Lanterna di Genova) serves as a symbol and a landmark for Genoa. Built of masonry, at 76 m it is the world"s fifth tallest lighthouse and the second tallest 'traditional' one. Between 1543 and the construction of the lighthouse on Île Vierge, France in 1902, it was the tallest lighthouse in the world. When measured as a whole with the natural rock on which it stands, as it is commo ...
Founded: 1543 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Villa Durazzo-Pallavicini
The Villa Durazzo-Pallavicini is a villa with notable 19th-century park in the English romantic style and a small botanical garden. The park and botanical garden are open daily. The estate was begun in the late 17th century by Clelia Durazzo Grimaldi, who established the Giardino botanico Clelia Durazzo Grimaldi at that time. Today"s remarkable park was created by her nephew Ignazio Alessandro Pallavicini after ...
Founded: 1840 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Forte Diamante
Forte Diamante is one of the most characteristic forts of Genoa"s entire network of defensive walls. It was built in 1758 right on the summit of Monte Diamante, at about 667 metres above sea level. Its position overlooking the Polcevera and Bisagno valleys and its distance from the city centre made this fort the city"s first defensive bastion against raids from the North.
Founded: 1758 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Basilica di Nostra Signora Assunta
Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption (Basilica di Nostra Signora Assunta) was constructed during 1610–1624. The Baroque-style facade was added in 1932, design of the architect Piero de Barbieri; the sculptor Luigi Venzano contributed the facade statues of St. John the Baptist and St. Joseph, while the central relief depicts the Madonna. The interior was decorated across the centuries and includes works by Giulio ...
Founded: 1610-1624 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Mackenzie Castle
The Mackenzie Castle is a historical manor in the Castelletto quarter of Genoa. It is an example of Gothic Revival architecture. The castle was built on a pre-existing country villa, in turn located on the site of the 16th century Genoese walls. Built in 1893-1905, it was designed in Gothic revival style by Art Nouveau architect Gino Coppedè under commission by Evan Mackenzie, an insurance broker, whose family liv ...
Founded: 1893 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Forte Begato
Fortified with angular bastions around a central courtyard and supported by a broad embankment, this mighty fort complex was built between 1818 and 1831 by the Savoy Corps of Engineers. It was able to house 840 soldiers and 41,000 kilos of ammunition in its gunpowder magazine; it also had 1500 square meters of storehouses. Renovation was carried out between the late 20th century and the early 21st century, subsidised by ...
Founded: 1818-1831 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
San Siro di Struppa
San Siro di Struppa is a Romanesque-style church in Struppa, a neighborhood of Genoa. Benedictine abbey was founded here in the Middle Ages, entitled to St. Syrus of Genoa, who, according to the tradition, was born here. A church existed here, most likely, since the 5th century AD, but it is documented only in 955. In 1025 bishop Landulf I of Genoa gave it the Benedictines. The church was most likely rebuilt in the ...
Founded: 12th century |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Forte Sperone
Forte Sperone is the heart of Genoa"s 19th-century fortifications, located right at the apex of the 'Mura Nuove' (new walls) from 1630, which to this day take the shape of mighty ramparts nestled in the hills behind the city centre.The fort"s main entrance, with the Savoy coat of arms above it, is protected by a moat and a heavy gate that was once connected to a drawbridge via two chains; other importa ...
Founded: 1747 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Forte Crocetta
Built during the Napoleonic period at 157 metres above sea level, on a site that was also once home to a monastery, Forte Crocetta was reconstructed by the Sardinian Corps of Engineers between 1818 and 1830.
Founded: 1818-1830 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Forte Puin
This is one of the best-preserved forts of those that formed the 19th-century defence system of the city of Genoa. Located in a spectacular setting overlooking the entire Parco delle Mura, the fort has been used for several years now by Genoa Town Council as an observation point to spot wildfires.Puin Fort also serves as a shelter and meeting/resting place for school groups and hikers.
Founded: 1815-1830 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Forte Monteratti
Forte Monteratti is a military barracks in Genoa built between 1831 and 1842 by the Government of the House of Savoy to defend the area’s highest peak, Monte Ratti (hence the name given to the barracks), situated behind Genoa’s Quezzi and Bavari districts.
Founded: 1831-1842 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Forte Quezzi
Built during the 18th century at 289 metres above sea level, this fort was restored in the 19th century. Damaged during the Second World War, it is now abandoned.
Founded: 1747-1800 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Forte Richelieu
Rising on the Camaldoli hills at 415 metres above sea level, this fort owes its name to Cardinal Armand du Plessis de Richelieu, who defended the city during the siege of 1746-47. Built in the 18th century, it was later renovated in the 19th century.
Founded: 1747-1809 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy
Forte Castellaccio
The walls of Forte Castellaccio also comprise the 19th-century Torre della Specola (1817-1820), built in a polygon shape using red brickwork, from which a large cannon was fired every day at 12 noon until just before the Second World War. The Torre houses a Meteorological Observatory belonging to the Hydrographical Institute of the Italian Navy.
Founded: 1818-1836 |
Location:
Genoa, Italy