Question 1

Genoa on Your Own

Accepted Answer

The oldest part of Genoa is a few minutes from the cruise terminals, so a port day here works well on foot. A simple plan is the waterfront and the maritime museum in the morning, the lanes of the old town and the palace street of Via Garibaldi after lunch, and one short metro or funicular ride if you want more. The waterfront: The Galata Museo del Mare, the largest maritime museum in the Mediterranean, is close to the terminals. So is the Porto Antico, with the aquarium and a promenade along the sea. The old town: Its lanes, the caruggi, are too narrow for traffic and are explored on foot. Piazza De Ferrari and the Palazzo Ducale are in the city center, and the cathedral of San Lorenzo is in the old town. The palace street: Via Garibaldi, laid out from 1558, is a street of palaces built by the old aristocracy, and three of them form the Strada Nuova Museums. A ride uphill: The Zecca-Righi funicular climbs from Largo della Zecca, on the edge of the old town, to the Righi hill, with a view over the city and the sea. Stay alert: Pickpockets work the crowded lanes around Via San Lorenzo and the city buses. Around Via Prè and the Principe station area, take extra care and keep to the main streets. Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own.

Question 2

Getting Around Genoa

Accepted Answer

Genoa's single metro line links Principe station, the old harbor and Piazza De Ferrari with Brignole station, and city buses, lifts and funiculars fill in the rest. The old town itself is walked, because its lanes are too narrow for vehicles. Buy tickets before you board, at a newsstand, a tobacconist, a metro station or in the AMT Genova app. One ticket covers buses, the metro, the funiculars and the public lifts for 110 minutes after it is validated. The Castelletto lift rises from Piazza della Nunziata to Spianata Castelletto, a terrace with a view over the city and the port. Use only licensed taxis, which carry a taxi sign on the roof and a company name and number on the side, and call one, book through an app or take one from a rank. Regional trains run along the coast from Principe and Brignole stations. For towns beyond the city limits you need a Trenitalia ticket rather than a city ticket. Boats leave the Porto Antico for Portofino and other towns along the coast. Check the return times against your all-aboard before you go.

Question 3

What to Eat in Genoa

Accepted Answer

Genoa is the home of pesto alla genovese and of focaccia genovese, and both are easy to find in the old town. Take-away shops called focaccerie sell focaccia all over the city. Pesto: The sauce is made with Genovese basil, extra virgin olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and cheese. Its name comes from the Genoese verb for pounding, and the ingredients are traditionally crushed in a marble mortar. A recipe from 1863 dresses trofie and lasagne with it. Focaccia genovese: This flatbread is marked with finger-sized dimples and brushed with olive oil and coarse salt. In Genoa it is eaten at breakfast, often dipped in milk or a cappuccino. Farinata: This thin pancake of chickpea flour, water and olive oil, called fainâ in Genoese, is a Ligurian street food. Mercato Orientale: The covered market at Via XX Settembre 75 sells produce and baked goods, with places to eat in the middle. Mealtimes: Restaurants open roughly from 12:30 to 3 p.m. for lunch and from 7:30 to 10 p.m. for dinner, so check before you go if you plan a late lunch. A trattoria, café or bar usually does not add the cover charge, the coperto, at lunch.

Question 4

Tipping in Italy

Accepted Answer

Tipping is not customary in Italy, and most restaurants charge a fixed cover per person, the coperto. Waiters do not expect a tip but will not refuse one, and if you want to leave something, a euro or two is enough. Leaving the change is also common with taxi drivers. Prices are in euros.

Question 5

Palaces and Art

Accepted Answer

Genoa's great families built palaces along new streets in the 16th and 17th centuries, and many were placed on official lists to lodge the republic's state guests. Several are now museums, and the cathedral and the doges' palace stand at the center of the old town. The Rolli: From 1576 the republic kept official lists, the rolli, of private palaces chosen to host visiting dignitaries. In 2006, 42 of them were inscribed on the World Heritage List with the new streets they stand on. Strada Nuova Museums: Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Bianco and Palazzo Tursi on Via Garibaldi form one museum. Its collection includes paintings by Van Dyck, Rubens, Veronese and Dürer, and Palazzo Tursi, which is also the city hall, holds a collection devoted to the violinist Paganini. Palazzo Ducale: The doges' palace, begun at the end of the 13th century, is now a center for exhibitions and cultural events, with entrances on Piazza Matteotti and Piazza De Ferrari. San Lorenzo: The cathedral was consecrated in 1118, and its treasury museum lies beneath it. Rolli Days: Public and private palaces open for free visits during the Rolli Days, usually held on a weekend in May and another in September.

Question 6

History of Genoa

Accepted Answer

Genoa began as a trading town of the ancient Ligures and became the capital of a maritime republic that lasted until 1797, with trading posts from the Aegean to the Crimea. Its port later carried emigrants to the Americas, and the old harbor was redeveloped for the Columbus anniversary in 1992. Ancient Genoa: The first town was founded on Castello hill, in today's old town, probably by the Ligures in the 5th century BC. It sided with Rome in the Second Punic War, and the Carthaginians destroyed it in 209 BC. The Crusades: A Genoese fleet sailed for the First Crusade in 1097, and Genoese crossbowmen under Guglielmo Embriaco fought at the siege of Jerusalem in 1099. 13th century: An alliance in 1261 with Michael VIII, the Nicaean emperor who retook Constantinople that year, gave Genoa free trade rights, and Chios, Lesbos and Smyrna became Genoese trading stations. In the same century Genoa founded the colony of Caffa in the Crimea. 1407 and 1451: The Bank of Saint George was founded in 1407, and Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa around 1451. 16th and 17th centuries: Genoese bankers financed many of the Spanish crown's ventures abroad, and the city's great families built Via Garibaldi from 1558. A plague in 1656 and 1657 killed as many as half the inhabitants, and France bombarded the city in 1684. 1797 and 1805: After Napoleon's invasion the old republic fell, and the Ligurian Republic was proclaimed in June 1797. France annexed it in 1805, and after Napoleon's fall the Congress of Vienna gave Genoa to the Kingdom of Sardinia. 1884 to 1930: A first passenger hall was built at the port between 1884 and 1890 as emigration grew, and the present terminal at Ponte dei Mille was finished in 1930 for the transatlantic liners. 1941: On February 9, 1941, a shell from a British battleship crashed into the nave of the cathedral of San Lorenzo but did not explode, and it is still inside. 1992 to 2006: The old harbor was redeveloped for the 1992 Expo marking 500 years since Columbus's voyage, Genoa was a European Capital of Culture in 2004, and the Rolli palaces joined the World Heritage List in 2006. 2018: On August 14, 2018, the Morandi motorway bridge collapsed during a torrential downpour, killing 43 people, and a replacement bridge opened in August 2020. To learn more ashore: The Galata Museo del Mare, at Calata De Mari 1 in the Darsena near the cruise terminals, covers Genoa's seafaring and the story of Italian emigration.

Question 7

Genoa with Children and Families

Accepted Answer

The old harbor makes Genoa a straightforward family stop, with Italy's largest aquarium and a maritime museum with a real submarine close to the cruise terminals. Older children can ride a funicular or a lift up the hills behind the city for the view. Younger children: The Acquario di Genova on the Porto Antico has dolphins, sharks, penguins and seals. In 2026 it opened every day from 9 a.m., with last entry at 6 p.m., and tickets started at €26 for adults and €16 for ages 4 to 12; check before you go. School age: The Galata Museo del Mare has a full-size reconstruction of a 17th-century Genoese galley, and visitors can go aboard the Nazario Sauro, a navy submarine built in 1976 and moored at the museum. Teenagers: Take the Zecca-Righi funicular up to the Righi hill for the view and a walk toward the old forts, or the Castelletto lift to its terrace above the old town. For everyone: Boccadasse, an old fishing village at the east end of the Corso Italia promenade, has pastel houses around a cobblestone beach, with ice-cream shops beside the bay.

Question 8

Accessibility in Genoa

Accepted Answer

The cruise terminals have lifts and ramps for boarding and for moving around inside, and wheelchairs are available on request. Ask for assistance at least 48 hours before boarding or leaving the ship, through your cruise line or the terminal operator. Cruise passengers who need help can go to the help desk at the check-in counters, where staff arrange priority boarding for them and their companions. Marked parking spaces near the terminals are reserved for vehicles with a disabled badge, and they are free with no booking needed. The terminals have accessible toilets. Genoa is surrounded by hills, and public lifts and funiculars link the center with the neighborhoods above it. At the aquarium, visitors with documented disabilities pay a reduced fare, and a companion of a visitor with a 100 percent disability enters free.

Question 9

Shopping in Genoa

Accepted Answer

Via XX Settembre is Genoa's main shopping street, with cafés and high-street fashion shops, and it runs from Piazza De Ferrari toward Brignole station. The old town's lanes and squares hold smaller shops, stalls and galleries. Via San Vincenzo, another shopping street, runs parallel to Via XX Settembre from Brignole. In the old town you will find souvenir stalls, bookshops, antique and furniture dealers and small art galleries. The Mercato Orientale, the covered market on Via XX Settembre, is the place for food to take home. The Fiumara shopping center is about 10 minutes on foot from Genova Sampierdarena station.

Question 10

Beaches and Coast Near Genoa

Accepted Answer

Genoa's beaches are pebbles, rocks and cliffs rather than sand, and the sea floor usually drops away steeply a few meters from shore. Boccadasse and the Corso Italia promenade are the easiest seaside outings from the center. Underwater stones are often covered in weed and very slippery, and waves that look harmless from the shore can be strong, so swim only when the sea is calm. Free public beaches normally have no lifeguards. Nervi, the easternmost district, has a large park above the cliffs with a promenade at sea level.

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