Casa di Colombo

Genoa


The reconstruction here is not the only house claiming to be the birthplace of the navigator Christopher Columbus (Calvi in Corsica is another contender), but the location has the most merit, as various documents inside testify. Curiously, it stands just outside the old city walls in the shadow of the Porta Soprana gate (built in 1155).


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Genoa attractions

1. Porta Soprana

0.03 MILES

Three monumental gates were built in Genoa from 1155 as part of a defensive wall system. Porta Soprana is one of two that survived, Porta dei Vacca is the…

2. Palazzo della Borsa

0.09 MILES

A Genovese looker that dominates Piazza de Ferrari, the former stock exchange building is testament to Genoa's shipping boom in the early 1900s.

3. Piazza de Ferrari

0.11 MILES

Genoa's fountain-embellished main piazza is ringed by magnificent buildings that include the art nouveau Palazzo della Borsa, which was once the country's…

4. Chiesa del Gesù

0.12 MILES

Hidden behind Piazza de Ferrari, this former Jesuit church dating from 1597 has an intricate and lavish interior. The wonderfully frescoed walls and…

5. Palazzo Ducale

0.16 MILES

Once the seat of the independent republic, this grand palace was built in the Mannerist style in the 1590s and was largely refurbished after a fire in the…

6. Museo del Tesoro

0.21 MILES

In the sacristy of the Cattedrale di San Lorenzo, the Museo del Tesoro preserves various dubious holy relics, including the medieval Sacro Catino, a glass…

7. Cattedrale di San Lorenzo

0.23 MILES

Genoa's zebra-striped Gothic–Romanesque cathedral owes its continued existence to the poor quality of a British WWII bomb that failed to ignite here in…

8. Santa Maria di Castello

0.29 MILES

Built on the site of the original settlement, and sheltering under the 11th-century Embriaci Tower, this Romanesque church and convent, itself built…