The first time I saw Genova was when the city was preparing for the Columbus Exposition of 1992, commemorating 500 years since the discovery of America by native son Christopher Columbus. This was an international event with participation by 54 countries and it was supposed to relaunch the city for international tourism because few people actually visited Genova as tourists.
I was one of them. I was living nearby and drove past the city almost weekly, but had never stopped. Big city. Major port. Industrial. What could possibly be of interest? As it turned out, quite a bit.
Genoa has been called La Superba (the superb) for a long time. Italian poet Petrarch first called it that in 1358, and suddenly I could see why, starting from Via Garibaldi, which became part of a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2006. Here and in the adjoining streets are a series of grand palaces built by the Genovese aristocracy in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The Palazzi dei Rolli (called such because they were listed on the rolls of public lodgings in the city) are handsome Renaissance and Baroque-style buildings, impressive enough on the outside and stunning on the inside. Three of them — Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Bianco, and Palazzo Doria Tursi — together constitute the Strada Nuova Museums, notable for their architecture (open staircases, interior frescoes, and gardens) and also their…
