Historic Cities · Italy

Genoa through the ages

Genoa is the sixth-largest city in Italy and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria. As of 2025, 565,301 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,629 inhabitants, more than 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera.

1450 · republic of the sea 1650 · strada nuova palaces

Genoa in 1450

Genoa of the Republic

Genoa in 1450 is a powerful maritime republic shaped by commerce, banking and shipbuilding, still contesting influence across the Mediterranean. This walk moves from the busy harbour and Lanterna headland into the dense medieval caruggi, past palaces, markets and shipyards that furnish the city's wealth and daily labour.

The skyline is a crowded coastal silhouette: the squat stone Lanterna on its promontory, masts and lateen-rigged galleys and broader round ships heaped at the Molo, low slate and terracotta roofs rising in an amphitheatre up the hills. Streets are narrow, shadowed stone alleys and sunlit squares where black‑and‑white marble on church fronts and pale merchant palaces catch the glow of low Mediterranean light.

The walk — 22 streets, squares and views

Gulf of Genoa → La Lanterna → Il Molo → Arsenale del Molo → Palazzo San Giorgio → Caricamento → Porto Antico → Piazza Banchi → Loggia dei Mercanti → Borgo di Prè → …

Step inside — 13 interiors

Beacon Lantern Chamber · Shipwright's Shed · Hall of Accounts · Customs Warehouse · Cordage Loft · Counting-house of Moneychangers · Merchants' Loggia Hall · Striped Cathedral Nave · Doria Palace Hall · Wool-weavers' Workshop · Gatehouse Guardroom · Ducal Council Chamber · Covered Market Hall

Walk Genoa in 1450 →35 scenes · 525 Clan Coins

Planned from the Wikipedia record: Republic of Genoa.

Genoa in 1650

Genoa the Superb

This is Genoa at the height of its mercantile splendour: bankers and noble palaces shoulder one another while new defensive walls stride the surrounding ridges. The walk moves from the crowded quays where silver and spices are landed, past Strada Nuova's frescoed fronts and hanging gardens, into the tight caruggi and up to the new bastions above the harbour.

In 1650 Genoa's skyline is a compact tangle of terracotta roofs, chimney smoke and masts, dominated by the tall stone lantern tower (La Lanterna) beside the busy harbour. The Strada Nuova palaces present long, frescoed façades and balconies with clipped lemon trees, while the medieval core tightens into narrow, painted alleys (caruggi). Stone and stucco in ochres and pale pinks, black-and-white marble highlights at churches, and earth‑coloured tiles give the city a warm, sunlit palette under frequent coastal haze.

The walk — 23 streets, squares and views

Gulf of Genoa → La Lanterna → Molo Vecchio → Mandraccio Quay → Palazzo San Giorgio → Piazza Banchi → Loggia dei Mercanti → Porta dei Vacca → Via dei Banchi → Cattedrale di San Lorenzo → …

Step inside — 12 interiors

Lantern Keeper's Chamber · Customs Warehouse · Shipchandler's Store · Bank of Saint George Hall · Counting House · Merchants' Hall · Baptist Chapel · Doge's Banquet Kitchen · Frescoed Gallery · Marble Atrium Stair · Piano Nobile Salone · Portrait Gallery

Walk Genoa in 1650 →35 scenes · 525 Clan Coins

Planned from the Wikipedia record: History of Genoa.

In this city