Things to do in Genoa
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Mentelocale
Tuna with sesame and lime, tempura prawns and red chicken curry with apples feature at this fusion restaurant inside the Palazzo Ducale. Mentelocale’s salads easily constitute a meal and come in a creative range of combinations using fresh local produce.
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Pizzeria di Vico dei Biscotti
This cavernous place with marine blue decor and mezzanine seating fills to the brim with locals tucking into a quattro stagione (four seasons) pizza and a beer or two.
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Museo delle Culture del Mondo
Castello D’Albertis houses the eclectic Museo delle Culture del Mondo. The neo-Gothic edifice was built in 1892 on the ruins of a much older castle for the globetrotting Capitano Enrico D’Albertis, who hauled back all manner of ‘curiosities’ from his extensive sea voyages. Where else could you find a stuffed platypus, a fragment of the Great Wall of China and a handful of sand from San Salvador (Columbus’ first disembarkation point) in the same cabinet? If you don’t fancy the climb up to Corso Dogali, there’s a lift from Via Balbi (€0.70) to the castle gates.
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Cattedrale di San Lorenzo
With its black-and-white-striped Gothic marble facade making it look a bit like a giant humbug, Genoa's Cattedrale di San Lorenzo is fronted by twisting columns and crouching lions. Consecrated in 1118, its two bell towers and cupola were added in the 16th century.
Inside the cathedral, above the central doorway, there's a great lunette with a painting of the Last Judgment, the work of an anonymous Byzantine painter of the early 14th century. Look out for the unexploded British bomb, which luckily failed to detonate when it hit the cathedral in 1941.
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Palazzo Lomellino
The most elaborate facade belongs to the 1563 Palazzo Lomellino. The grey blue exterior is festooned with stucco adornments, while the internal courtyard is dominated by an 18th-century nymphaeum (monument to the nymphs). Upstairs, the remarkably preserved 17th-century frescoes by Bernardo Strozzi were only uncovered in 2002, after languishing for almost 300 years above a false ceiling. They depict allegories of the New World, in homage to the palace’s one-time owners, the Centurione family, who financed Columbus’ voyages.
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Palazzo Doria-Tursi
Tickets must be purchased at the bookshop inside Palazzo Doria-Tursi. The palace’s Sala Paganiniana has a small but absorbing collection of legendary violinist Niccolò Paganini’s personal effects. Pride of place goes to his ‘Canone’ violin, made in Cremona in 1743. One lucky musician gets to play the maestro’s violin during October’s Paganiniana festival. Other artefacts on show include letters, musical scores and his travelling chess set. The palace has housed Genoa’s town hall since 1848.
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Lupo
Inviting aromas of home cooking – cuttlefish in tomato sauce, ravioli in walnut sauce and homemade desserts – greet you at the door, as do owners who welcome you like they’ve known you forever. Lupo’s wine list is outstanding, and its antiques and objets d’art, such as cast-iron candelabras, a grandfather clock and black-and-white photographs suspended on wire strings create a refined yet relaxed ambience.
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Palazzo Ducale
On the Piazza De Ferrari is the Palazzo Ducale, accessed via Piazza Giacomo Matteotti. Once the seat of Genoa’s rulers, it hosts a few small specialist museums and archives, including the Museo del Jazz, with a collection of original recordings. High-profile temporary art exhibitions are held in the palazzo, which also has a bookshop, cafe and restaurants.
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I Tre Merli
Grander than some of its portside counterparts, this well-positioned restaurant is flanked by towering black-and-white-striped columns. Excellent Ligurian cuisine includes salted cod fritters, and veal stuffed with porcini mushrooms and potatoes. Otherwise, you can just have a glass of wine with wood-fired snacks such as focaccia col formaggio (Liguria’s answer to cheese-on-toast).
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Cathedral
A stunner even by Italian standards, Genoa’s black-and-white-striped cathedral owes its continued existence to the poor quality of a British WWII bomb that failed to ignite here in 1941. Fronted by twisting columns and crouching lions, it was first consecrated in 1118. The two bell towers and cupola were added in the 16th century.
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Biosfera
Two of Renzo Piano’s most distinctive new additions to the port are the Biosfera, a giant glass ball housing a humid mini-ecosystem with tropical plants, butterflies and birds; and a panoramic lift, Il Bigo, which hoists a cylindrical viewing cabin 200m into the air. The lift has access for disabled visitors.
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Trattoria delle Raibetta
Family-run, authentic Genoese joint in the warren of streets near the cathedral. The food here is unfussy and fish-biased. Try the seafood with riso venere (a local black rice) or the signature homemade trofiette al pesto. The octopus salad makes a good overture while the wine is a toss-up between 200 different vintages.
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Acquario
Jutting out over the water, Genoa’s bright blue Acquario has more than 5000 sea creatures, including sharks, swimming in six million litres of water. The adjoining floating barge takes visitors on a voyage through the Age of Discovery and into a Madagascan rainforest. The aquarium has disabled access.
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Museo del Tesoro
The Museo del Tesoro preserves various dubious holy relics, including the medieval Sacro Catino, a glass vessel once thought to be the Holy Grail. Other artefacts include the polished quartz platter upon which Salome is said to have received John the Baptist’s head, and a fragment of the True Cross.
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Café degli Specchi
A bit of Turin disconnected and relocated 150km to the south, this roaring-’20s, tiled art deco showpiece was (is) a favourite hang-out of the literati. You can sink your espresso at street level or disappear upstairs amid the velvet seats and mirrors for coffee, cake and an aperitivo (happy hour) buffet.
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Palazzo Rosso
Lavishly frescoed rooms in Palazzo Rosso are the backdrop for several portraits by Van Dyck of the local Brignole-Sale family. Other standouts include Guido Reni’s San Sebastiano and Guercino’s La morte di Cleopatra, as well as works by Veronese, Dürer and Bernardo Strozzi.
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Palazzo del Principe
The beautiful Palazzo del Principe was once the home of the 16th-century admiral Andrea Doria. The sumptuous Renaissance interiors, with frescoes, tapestries, furniture and paintings, have been painstakingly restored, and the formal gardens provide a calm respite from the frenetic city.
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Palazzo Bianco
Flemish, Spanish and Italian artists feature at Palazzo Bianco. Rubens’ Venere e Marte and Van Dyck’s Vertumna e Pomona are among the highlights, which also include works by Hans Memling, Filippino Lippi and Murillo, as well as 15th-century religious icons.
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Antica Trattoria del Porto Maria
Classic Genoese cuisine such as seafood risotto, scampi in brandy, and pasta of all shapes and sizes doused with pesto is dished up at this atmospheric little old-port trattoria. Its green-and-white-checked tables are down a flight of steps in an old storeroom with low, vaulted ceilings.
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Museo d’Arte Orientale
Just east of Via Garibaldi, a path from Piazza Corvetto twists through terraced gardens to the Museo d’Arte Orientale. With some 20, 000 items, including porcelain, bronzes, costumes and musical instruments, this museum brings together one of Europe’s largest collections of Japanese art.
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Piazza de Ferrari
A splashing fountain is the centrepiece of Genoa's main square, the Piazza de Ferrari. It's ringed by magnificent buildings, including the Art Nouveau Palazzo della Borsa (closed to the public), which was once the country's stock exchange; and the neoclassical Teatro Carlo Felice .
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Antica Cantina I Tre Merli
Tucked in a historic stone cellar down an alley off Via Garibaldi, this intimate spot has some great wines accompanying dishes such as king prawns in tarragon sauce on black rice. There's a wide choice of Ligurian meat dishes, several of which require a minimum of two diners.
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Galleria Nazionale
Galleria Nazionale, a 16th-century mansion,was owned by the Spinolas, one of the Republic’s most formidable dynasties. Their ancestral home displays Italian and Flemish Renaissance art, but is also worth visiting to gape at the awesome architecture.
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Galata Museo del Mare
The best place to gain an appreciation for Genoa’s relationship with the sea is the excellent Galata Museo del Mare, which traces the history of seafaring from earliest times through the ages of sail and steam to the present via high-tech exhibits.
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Porto Antico
Since its recent face-lift, Genoa's historic port gets packed with locals and visitors enjoying a passeggiata (stroll). The port's information booth has details about all of the old port's attractions and events, including various activities here for kids.
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