La Superba (Petrarch over Genoa)
“The streets generally are four or five to eight feet wide and as crooked as a corkscrew. You go along one of these gloomy cracks, and look up and behold the sky like a mere ribbon of light, far above your head, where the tops of the tall houses on either side of the street bend almost together. You feel as if you were at the bottom of some tremendous abyss, with all the world far above you. You wind in and out and here and there, in the most mysterious way, and have no more idea of the points of the compass than if you were a blind man.“
The sttation of Selestat
In 1867 Mark Twain undertook a “Great Pleasure Excursion”, as he called it, on board of the steam ship “Quaker City” to Europe. The account of this trip, published in 1869 under the title “The Innocents abroad”, became his most successful book during his lifetime. One stop on the way was Genoa. His description of the obscure, narrow streets of Genoa’s old town raises curiosity how the historic city center of Genoa looks like today.
Regional train in Selestat
While Mark Twain approached Genoa from the sea I have to come from the North, by train. I have spent a night in Selestat, in Alsace, and want to get to Genoa in the course of the day, via Basel and Milan, without using a high speed train in Italy, which requires a reservation.
The express between Strasbourg and Basel in Selestat
TER96211 leaves Selestat on time at 8.41 am for Basel. Most of these trains, linking Strasbourg and Basel, still consist of conventional coaches operated by an electric engine. Having to toil my suitcase up into the carriage reminds me that I swore to myself I would always use a backpack when traveling by Interrail. But this inconvenience of the old carriage as compared to the modern low-floor multiple units is compensated by sinking away into comfortable seats, plenty of functioning toilets and a lot of space for luggage.
Conductrice waiting to give the sign for departure
The train is not very busy and most of the passengers leave at the next stop in Colmar. The line from Strassbourg to Basel, opened in 1840-1844 was in fact Switzerland’s first railway. Right from the start the line was double tracked with trains traveling on the right. When Alsace was occupied by Germany and the railway incorporated into the Reichseisenbahnen Elsass-Lothringen this practice fitted into the German standard procedure. It was never changed even after Alsace became French again after the world wars. In contrast to the other double-tracked lines in France the trains here still travel on the right side.
"Hudson" express locomotive 232 U 1 in the Cité du Train in Mulhouse
The following stop in Mulhouse would offer the opportunity to visit the Cité du Train, the French national railway museum, according to their website the biggest of its kind in Europe. In my opinion also one of the best. A visit requires the best of a whole day, in particular since the distance from the station requires taking a tram-ride of 9 stops.
Arrival of the train from Straasbourg in Basel SNCF
The Swiss part of the Strassbourg – Basel line is electrified with the French 25 kV 50 Hz~ system and therefore different from the Swiss-German electrification with 15 kV 16 2/3 Hz~. French trains therefore arrive in a separate part of Basel SBB station. A couple of Swiss border guards watch the arriving crowd suspiciously but let everybody pass through unhindered. I have 20 minutes to change to the main concourse, where train number 2319 will leave for its journey south to Locarno. This is the Gotthard-Express, the train which will climb the scenic route across the pass.
SBB Intercity train in Basel SBB station
After a brief stop in Olten, one of the important train hubs in Switzerland, we arrive in Luzern. There is a short break. Luzern is a terminus and train 2319 has to change direction. Luzern would offer the possibility to visit the Verkehrshaus der Schweiz, a huge museum dedicated to all means of transport. Next to railway equipment representing the rail history of Switzerland it displays cars, boats and even planes. Again, it requires a walk of half an hour to get there from Luzern’s main station but the Verkehrshaus has got a separate stop for local trains towards Arth-Goldau.
The Gotthard train in the station of Lucerne
“A tramp abroad”, published in 1880, is the forth of six travel book published by Mark Twain. Late at night, he arrived from Baden-Baden in Luzern by train. However, he does not comment on the train journey: ”Lucerne is a charming place. It begins at the water’s edge, with a fringe of hotels, and scrambles up and spreads itself over two or three sharp hills in a crowded, disorderly, but picturesque way, offering to the eye a heaped-up confusion of red roofs, quaint gables, dormer windows, toothpick steeples, with here and there a bit of ancient embattled wall bending itself over the ridges, worm-fashion, and here and there an old square tower of heavy masonry.”
The wooden Kapellenbrücke in Lucerne which had to be reconstructed after it burnt down some years ago
During his visit, Mark Twain also crossed the Kapellenbrücke built in 1333 and the Reussbrücke from 1408, Luzern’s most famous landmarks: “We visited the two long, covered wooden bridges which span the green and brilliant Reuss just below where it goes plunging and hurrahing out of the lake. These rambling, sway-backed tunnels are very attractive things, with their alcoved outlooks upon the lovely and inspiriting water. They contain two or three hundred queer old pictures, by old Swiss masters—old boss sign-painters, who flourished before the decadence of art.”
View of the Vierwaldstättersee from the train out of Lucerne to Arth-Goldau
I want to get to Genoa as quickly as possible today and therefore also skip bridges and museum. Changing in Arth-Goldau from the scenic Gotthard train to an Intercity train to Lugano will allow me to save an hour since it uses the Gotthard Base tunnel. However, there are only four minutes between our arrival in Arth-Goldau and the departure of IC869.
Changing trains in Arth-Goldau. To the left the IC train from Zürich to Lugano, to the right the trocks from Lucerne
The line between Luzern and Arth-Goldau is only single track and heavily used. It is instructive for how well the Swiss railways are organized. Crossing of oncoming trains in stations is done without stops. Our train slows down to let others go by or even pass a faster freight train in the same direction. Nevertheless I get the impression that we will arrive late in Arth-Goldau and I will loose the connection there. During the nerve-wracking slow approach I can already see the Pendolino approaching on the line on the facing slope above the Zugersee. An announcement disperses my concerns. The connection to Lugano will wait for us at the neighboring track across the platform. The station building forms an island between the tracks. Changing does not involve stairs or an elevator.
C 5/6 steam engine in the Verkehrshaus Lucerne. These engines were built for the line across the Gotthard pass
With a length of 57 km the Gotthard tunnel, opened in 2016, still is the world’s longest railway tunnel. The construction started in 2004, the line was completed in 2014, but it took another two years of testing until it was trustworthy enough for daily use. However, in August 2023, a freight train derailed in the middle of the tunnel. The damage to the infrastructure was such that it took more than a year before the tunnel could be used again in September 2024. For Intercity 869 it takes around half an hour to pass through the tunnel. The overall travel time between Zürich and Lugano is reduced by more than an hour as compared to the old route across the pass.
After electrification the famous "crocodile"engines were used on the Gotthard pass
In Lugano, again, I only have four minutes to change to the next train to Milan. Unfortunately train 25621 does not depart from the same platform. With my unwieldy roller-case I have to go down a long ramp, then pass through a tunnel to the main hall, where I find an escalator to get to platform 1. Ramps and escalators at least are able to transport bigger numbers of people. I am not the only one who has to toil heavy luggage to the other platform. A lift in place of the elevator or ramp would surely take a long time to help everybody to the other train.
The funicular connecting the station and the town center in Lugano
I get into the train to Milan without trouble and it even takes some time until it leaves with a little delay otherwise uncommon in Switzerland for its journey of an hour and 15 minutes to Milan. There is another delay in the border station of Chiasso, where properly dressed Italian border guards patrol the train to watch out for illegal Swiss bringing too much fortune into the country.
The train from Lugano has arrived in Milano Centrale
Again I get a bit nervous. The transfer time in Milan is only 8 minutes. On the website of the Italian railways FS I can find the departure board of Milano Centrale station, where the departure platform of the trains is made public around 20 min before the departure. It shows that train Regionale Veloce 3029 to Albenga via Genova Porta Principe will leave from platform 22, a long way from our arrival platform. Unfortunately I also have boarded the rear part of the train consisting of two long EMU’s. Consulting open railway map I discover that platform 22 is way at the end of and almost outside the hall, about the most inconvenient platform for transfers in Milano Centrale. Open railway map also shows that there is a tunnel at the end of the station hall of Milano Centrale, but it will require lifting the heavy suitcase and will probably be also choked with people.
Crowds of travelers leaving the train in Milano
Very slowly, and with a lot of brief stops train 25621 crawls through the northern suburbs of Milan and into Centrale station. When we finally come to a stop I have to move down the platform together with a stream of annoyingly slow moving others. In addition the flow is blocked by travelers waiting to board our train. We have arrived a couple of minutes late and I have only a couple of minutes for the journey to platform 22. Is it worth the try at all to hurry?
Waiting for the announcement of the departure platform in Milano
I seem to be the only one in haste. For the first time I notice that speeding up your step is not the Italian way. It takes unnervingly long to get to the end of the platform and pass the masses of people waiting at the main concourse for the announcement for their train before I get to the left end of the hall, where I discover platform 22 and a train ready for departure at the horizon. It is still there, but the departure time must have passed by now and the signal can be given by the conductor every second.
Waiting passengers in Milano Centrale
As fast as I can considering my handicap I move towards the train in the distance. The majority of the German conductors now would have gripped their whistle, put it to their lips, waited until I am so close by that I can almost grip the first door handle, and depart…. Not in Italy. A helpful employee waits for me, presses on the button for the door to open. After I have entered the train I hear the whistle and we leave.
On the way to Genoa... Suburban Milan
The train is full. I find a spot opposite a rather voluminous couple absorbed to their phones. While the trains in Switzerland were quiet I realize for the first on Regionale Veloce 3029 that the use of headphones is not popular in Italy. Base line of the noise is the sound from video clips of different social media sources, interrupted after a few seconds and replaced by something producing an entirely different sound. People make phone calls by shouting as if they would have to bridge the distance to their interlocutor with helpful means. I can understand that the mala connessione is blamed.
Travel companions between Milan and Genoa
Most people leave in Parma. The noise and shouting stays. My Vis-a-Vis, dressed in a light-green baby suit, gets more and more agitated. For the first time, many will follow, I regret that I don’t sufficiently understand Italian to follow the conversation. Nobody is interested to look and see what is outside.
On the way to Genoa... Abandoned station in the Po river plain
I get up and change to a quieter seat with a better view. History has left a country full of ruins. In Italy, 2500 years of Greeks, Etruscans, Romans, Normans, Popes and Renaissance rulers did not leave as many ruins as the last 100 years of short-sighted economic development. For the train traveler the ruins start next to the track. Boarded up station buildings, water towers, goods sheds, door-less toilet buildings, cranes, water cranes for steam engines are left standing as canvas for graffiti artists.
Station in the Po river plain
Every station, every town comes with clusters of abandoned industrial structures, windows scattered, roofs collapsed, weeds growing. In the suburbs unfinished concrete skeletons, some already again in the state of degradation, blackened with rusty spikes of metal armament.
Crossing the Po river
This is the plain of the river Po and we cross the river on a long metal bridge. The view goes across large fields, irrigation pipes and farms. Most of the latter are in ruin. Farmers in Germany built a new farmhouse next to the old one. For many years, they enjoy the view of the slowly degrading and collapsing old building from their windows. In Italy the inhabitants seem to simply disappear. Empty hulls of farmhouses, stables and sheds form the center of the extensive fields. The owners have moved elsewhere, maybe the property has been bought by neighbors for scaling up. The trees rooting in the broken walls are among the few vertical distractions in the agricultural checkerboard.
Genoa Piazza Principe station
Train 3029 arrives in Genoa exactly on time. Genoa Porta Nuova station is the dream of a model railroader: on both sides the tracks disappear in a tunnel. To increase their length even the platforms are extended into the eastern tunnel. The old, ornamented platform canopy has been restored, the elevators are working. For the model railroader they have set the lower terminal of a cog wheel railway right above the western tunnel.
The enormous, old station building houses several halls on several levels connected by working escalators. Towards the town the building displays a facade of arches and columns. For once the square in front of the station did not get the name of one of the national heroes but is simply called Piazza Aquaverde. It is decorated by the statue of the town’s most famous traveler, Christopher Columbus.
Monument for Chritopher Colombus on the station square in Genoa
Like Germany, after the collapse of the Roman empire Italy formed a puzzle of independent duchies, kingdoms, Republics and city states. Before the arrival of Napoleon, in 1796, it was divided between the Kingdom of Sardinia, Kingdom of Sicily, the Papal State, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Republic of Venice, the City states of Parma, Modena, Lucca and Milan and the Republic of Genoa,
The narrow palace lined streets of Genoa
For many years, from the 11th century to 1797, Genoa was the capital of one of the most powerful maritime powers in the Mediterranean. Its star began to rise with the first crusade, when the city provided ships and troops. Soon it managed to become the most important trading partner of the Byzantine empire. Next to their homeland along the Ligurian coast, Corsica, parts of Sardinia, some Islands in the Aegian like Lesbos and Chios and areas in Crimea were conquered and became a permanent Genoese possession. Always in competition and conflict with the other maritime republics Amalfi, Pisa, Ancona, Gaeta, Noli and in particular their arch enemy Venice, the Republic established trading posts along much of the coast of the Mediterranean, from Seviglia in the West to Smyrna, Trabizon and Beirut in the East. In many cases the establishments of the trading posts led to the annexation of the surrounding area by Genoa.
The palaces along the "New streets" in Genoa
Arches between the palaces bridging the alleys
As one of the largest naval powers of the continent, from the 12th century to the 15th century it played a leading role in the history of commerce and trade in Europe, becoming one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Money increased their power. In the 15th century, one of the first banks, the Bank of St. George was founded in Genoa. Many European rulers and in particular the Byzantine emperors and the Habsburgs became dependent on the wealth of Genoese bankers.
At the Palazzo Meridiana
The wealth led to the construction of splendid palaces lining the streets around the medieval town center. This also was noticed by Mark Twain, however, he was not pleased by the style of the architecture: “ “The Superb” and the “City of Palaces” are names which Genoa has held for centuries. She is full of palaces, certainly, and the palaces are sumptuous inside, but they are very rusty without and make no pretensions to architectural magnificence. “Genoa the Superb” would be a felicitous title if it referred to the women. We have visited several of the palaces—immense thick-walled piles, with great stone staircases, tesselated marble pavements on the floors, (sometimes they make a mosaic work, of intricate designs, wrought in pebbles or little fragments of marble laid in cement,) and grand salons hung with pictures by Rubens, Guido, Titian, Paul Veronese, and so on, and portraits of heads of the family… “
Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato
UNESCO was more impressed by the palaces of Genoa and put “Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli” on the World Heritage List in 2006. The monument includes 42 of the 163 palaces. These “new streets”, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi (1558–1583, formerly Strada Maggiore or Strada Nuova), Via Balbi (1602–1620 and Via Cairoli (1778–1786), were built by the Genoese aristocracy during the expansion of the city outside the medieval center at a time when the Republic of Genoa was at the height of its financial and seafaring power.
Via Cairoli
The Palaces were called “Palazzi dei Rolli” (Italian for "Palaces of the Lists") since they were associated to a particular system of ‘public lodging’ in private residences. Notable guests on State visit to the Republic were hosted in one of these palaces which was chosen by a public lottery.
.... entrance of Palazzo Doria Tursi
The tourism board has set out historic walks along the sights of town. One is along the palaces of the Rolli. The names of the palaces represent the mighty and wealthy families at the times of the Republic in the 16th to 18th century. There are five different palazzi Balbi, six palazzi Spinola and at least as many of the Grimaldi. The Palazzo Stefano Balbi, also called Palazzo Reale houses the Museo nationale de Genoa, Palazzo Niccolo Grimaldi, called Palazzo Tursi, Palazzo Lucca Grimaldi, called Palazzo Bianco, and Palazzo Ridolfo Maria e Gio Francesco Brignole, called Palazzo Rosso, next to each other on Via Garibaldi, can be visited as part of the musei di Strada Nuova.
Palazzo Ridolfo Maria e Gio Francesco Brignole
Like in many other Italian towns parts of previous buildings have been incorporated into new construction. Roman columns and ancient vaults can be seen as part of medieval or Renaissance walls.
Palazzo Rosso
Giovanni Francesco Brignole i Sale 102nd Doge of Genoa 1635-1637 and first king of Corsica
Some palaces used by the University are open to roam around. Although many rooms are locked it is impressive to wander through the grand halls and stumble up and down the great staircases up to loggias and roof top galleries.
Palazzo Balbi Senarega used by the university
The Palazzo Ducale, set apart at the grand Piazza Mateotti, shows an exposition displaying paintings of Antoon van Dyck, a painter who, by his work, is considered a real European. Born in Antwerp in 1699, Van Dyck also spent six years in Italy from 1621 to 1625 where Genoa served as his main base. From 1632 on Van Dyck lived in England and is buried in the Saint Pauls cathedral in 1641.
Palazzo Balbi Senarega
The Palazzo de la Meridiana, which is still privately owned, serves as exposition space and displays an exposition dedicated to Futurism, art from completely different time.
Palazzo meridiana
Most of the palaces are closed for the public. In the time of Mark Twain the feeling of the independent Genoese Republic must have been much more aparent. The rich families were still there and living behind those dark, forbidding doors. Mark Twain is particularly impressed by the beautiful women dressed in rich garment frequenting the streets and disappearing behind heavy gates: “I would like to remain here. I had rather not go any further. There may be prettier women in Europe, but I doubt it. The population of Genoa is 120,000; two-thirds of these are women, I think, and at least two-thirds of the women are beautiful. They are as dressy and as tasteful and as graceful as they could possibly be without being angels. However, angels are not very dressy, I believe. At least the angels in pictures are not—they wear nothing but wings. But these Genoese women do look so charming.” (A tramp abroad, chapter XVII).
One of the contemporary beautiful women of Genoa
The most famous Genoese family probably were the Doria. At least six palaces bear their names. The grandest is the Villa Principe, the palace of Admiral Andrea Doria at the entrance of the city, right next to the station where I arrived and the hotel where I stay.
Villa del Principe, the palace of Andrea Doria
Andrea Doria (1466-1560) was considered the leading naval leader of his time. He served in the navy different mediterranean powers in numerous conflicts. After 1528 he was Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's grand admiral in the Mediterranean. However, Andrea Doria also was the mastermind behind the reform of the Genoese constitution. By eliminating the feuds between the various influential families in Genoa like the Cybo, Doria, Fieschi, Giustiniani, Grimaldi, Imperiale, Pallavicino, and Spinola he was able to form an oligarchic government led by a Doge. He himself refused this role, but served as a censor for life time.
The entrance to Villa del Principe
When I try to visit the palace and gardens the gates are closed. There is no sign about where the entrance is and when garden and palace are open although Google pretends that the garden should be accessible until sunset. A glimpse into the premises only is possible from the busy, noisy and dirty road which separates the garden from port and sea.
Genoa Piazza Principe station and the terminal of the Ferrovia a cremagliera Granarolo above the tunnel
The town and port of Genoa is surrounded by the mountains of the Ligurian Apennins. Only a rather limited flood plain between the slopes and the sea was available for the development of the town. For the harbor the mountains offered protection for the sailing ships. In the time of horse carriages and sedan chairs for the rich and walking by foot for the poor the mountains formed a difficult barrier to the backcountry and an obstacle for further development of the city.
Ferrovia a cremagliera Granarolo
This changed with the development of railways and mechanical means to tackle the grades. Like in other ports with a similar topography such as Valparaiso, elevators and funiculars were built to enable development and construction on the slopes. Genoa was particularly inventive in the variety of means for this type of transport. Even today, nine elevators, two funicular railways, a cogwheel railway and a narrow gauge railway remain operating for users who want or have to avoid the long stairways. In addition there are busses, trolley busses and a metro line.
Inside the cog railcar
It is the terminal of the cog railway Ferrovia a cremagliera Granarolo which is right above the tunnel at the western end of the station. When I arrive there is nobody and no train. A timetable printed on a sheet of paper is fixed to the window of the waiting room. There should be a train about every half an hour. I have my doubts since nobody is waiting.
Passing loop of the cog railway
There is a cafe next door. While I sip my espresso which always comes with a glass of water – never order a Cappuccino after lunch time – I ask the owner about the train. He confirms that it should leave soon and shows me where to buy the tickets for the railway. Onlu since this year a ticket is required to use the lifts and funiculars of Genoa. There should be a card reader in the waiting room. About the entrance to the Villa Principe he doesn’t know anything.
Tourists walking illegally along the line
One wall of the tiny cafe is covered with a bookshelf. When I ask about the books, he replies that they are from another life, a life in which Latin, Greek and the Antique have played a role. Unfortunately the conversation doesn’t lead much further since my Italian is too insufficient for other questions.
Ferrovia a cremagliera Granarolo with view of the old town center of Geona
A considerable crowd has assembled when the little red carriage finally arrives. When I hold my card against the reader, it displays a price of 2 €. There is no ticket or receipt. I hope it is registered on the bank card. The ticket should be valid for 110 minutes.
The upper terminal of the cog railway
There are several intermediate stops. A footpath – for authorized staff only – runs along the line. A couple of tourists stumble down the footpath when the little red train passes by. The driver doesn’t care. Nor does he care whether his guests have bought a ticket before boarding. Few people stay until the upper terminal where a second car waits in a historic shed.
Chiesa di Santa Maria di Granarolo
This summit mainly gives access to Chiesa di Santa Maria di Granarolo in the middle of a small, quiet neighborhood along a cobbled lane. The church is surrounded by a quiet garden and a viewing platform allows to take in the city with its background of the mountainous eastern ligurian coast and the sea.
The neighborhood around Chiesa di Santa Maria di Granarolo
After coming back from the peace at the deserted viewing platform the traffic noise at the bottom is even more irritating. Even the electric trolley buses are loud, however, nothing beats the deafening noise of the racing scooters and motorcycles. Maybe they are so loud because they are scared shitless in the merciless traffic and want to be heard?
Main entrance to Genoa Piazza Principe station
The terrace of my hotel room above the busy street
My hotel room is the only one with a terrace above the street. However, the noise and dust is such that it is impossible to sit there at daytime. I keep the doors and windows closed. At night the traffic subsides, but never dies down completely. At least it is quiet enough to sit out there and read.
Entrance to the lift to Castello Alberti
The other end of the station, across the square at the start of Via Balbi, an unspectacular entrance gives access to the lift to Castello Alberti, I don’t trust the card reader and I don’t want to ride without a ticket even if the probability of a control seems to be low. So I cross the street to a tabacchi store where the public transport tickets are for sale.
The horizontal part of the line
It turns out that the Via Balbi – Corso Dogali elevator is quite a unique construction: a little wagon first is pulled like a horizontalal funicular for 236 m before it is hoisted vertically up for 69 m after it has passed a narrow curve where the track doubles. As soon as the uphill bound wagon has entered the lift section, the car that has just come down in the second lift shaft starts its onward journey on the horizontal track towards the lower entrance. Each of the 2 cabins can hold 23 people or a load of 1800 kg.
Crossing of the two cabins at the base of the lift
The lift was first inaugurated in 1929 by a private company. At the time users had to walk 300 m to the cabins. After an intermediate closure it was modernized and equipped with the horizontal funicular part and reopened in 2004. Unlike most conventional lifts or many funiculars there is no counterbalancing between the two cabins.
The station at the top
The Balbi -Dogali lift is the means to get to D’Albertis castle, one of the many structures in Genoa with a peculiar history. What at first sight looks like a medieval castle was built in 1886-1892 as the private residence for Enrico Alberto d'Albertis (1846-1932). Built in a Gothic revival style inspired by buildings in Florence or the Aosta valley it was the first private castle built in Genoa. With D’Albertis death in 1932 the city of Genoa became the owner.
D’Albertis castle
D’Albertis was a sea captain, philanthropist, traveler and fervent collector. The castle houses a world museum displaying his collection of indigenous artifacts from south America, Oceania, New Guinea and Africa. There is also a collection of ship models, musical instruments and the personal library of D’Albertis. The garden area houses a cafe which probably has the best view of Genoa.
Cafe in castello D’Albertis
Another spectacular view point can be reached by the Zecca – Riqui railway, a traditional funicular with two cabins counterbalanced by a cable. The line was originally opened as a funicular in two sections, the lower traversing a tunnel, the upper in open air. Between 1963 and 1965 the railway was reconstructed into a single funicular with a double cabin, line length of 1428 m, elevation gain of 279 m and a passing loop at the intermediate station San Nicola. Up to 157 passengers can be hauled up an average incline of 19.91% with a maximum of 35%.
The two cabins passing in the loop
Upper part of the Zecca – Riqui railway with view of Genoa
The car in the upper terminal
The upper terminal
The mountains around Genoa dotted with fortresses
The summit at Riqui, although not very attractive architecturally, offers a spectacular view of the port and has access to the ring of fortresses designed to protect the harbor from the summits around the bay. There is a hiking trail linking the fortresses of Begato, Castelluccio, Diamante, Fratello Minore and Puin on this ridge.
Departure of the St. Anna funicular
On its 370 meter journey the St. Anna funicular climbs 54 m from Piazza Portello on the edge of Genoa's historic center to Corso Magenta in the residential area of Convallazone a Monte. It entered service in 1891. At the time it was a water-powered system where the upper carriage was filled with water to pull the lower carriage uphill by the connecting cable. At the bottom, the water reservoir was emptied, and the cycle began again.
The Abt switch of the passing loop of the St. Anna funicular
Although the system was very simple it required a certain amount of attention on the part of the operators in loading the right amount of water based on the number of passengers on the carriages, and a careful use of the brake, which acted on a central rack, to prevent the speed from increasing dramatically.
The upper terminal where the cabins once were filled with water
In 1991 the system was modernized after a fire had destroyed the wooden chalet style summit cabin. The system, now driven with a stationary electric engine, can be operated by a single employee and has an hourly capacity of about 900 passengers per hour in each direction. Each year the funicular is used by over a million people
The summit of the St. Anna elevator is a short distance from the Church of Sant'Anna. The funicular connects to Ascensore Magenta, a conventional lift which allows people to easily climb further up the mountain. A separate lift gives access to the pharmacy of St. Anna. Founded by the Discalced Carmelites friars of the Convent of Sant’Anna in 1650 it is the oldest of its kind in Italy and still sells medicine, galenic and herbal medication and dietary products. While the interior is old fashioned and traditional it is connected to a state of the art modern pharmacy.
Entrance to the pharmacy of St. Anna
Although being the most ancient, the pharmacy of St. Anna is only one of many old-fashioned shops in the historic part of Genoa. A little booklet handed out by the tourist information has a whole list of traditional shops, cafes and restaurants. Many had already been there in the time of Mark Twain. When he visited they must have been regarded as modern and fashionable, and probably not worth mentioning.
The entrance to the tunnel of Ascensore Castelletto Ponente
To cope with the expected amount of passengers, the most popular view point of Genoa is even accessible by two lifts, the Ascensore Castelletto Ponente and Levante. The lower entrance of the Ponente elevator is hidden behind an inconspicious door next to the Palazzo Meridiana. A long tunnel still displays the original art-deco decoration but leads to the busy road tunnel of the galleria Garibaldi. Users have to cross the road to the entrance from where the lift departs. The cabin is restored to its original design with wooden interior. I wondered why part of the cabin is barred off with a barrier but apparently for safety reasons to satisfy bureaucracy the capacity had to be reduced. Built in 1929 it covers a height difference of 61 meters.
The long tunnel and the cabin of the elevator ponente
At the top the lift ends inside a residential building from where a little bridge gives access to the Spianata Castelletto, a little park where every free space at the Luigi Montaldo viewpoint is occupied by noisy, nervous, gesticulating Spaniards taking selfies. All of them want to go into the Castelletto Levante elevator, the scenic brother of Ponente and the most famous of Genoa's elevators. It covers a height difference of 57 m down to Piazza Portello.
Ascensore Castelletto Ponente and Levante
Built in 1910 to a design by engineer Carlo Bagnasco, it was one of the first systems of its kind in Genoa. It has two Art Nouveau style cabins clad in pine wood, each carrying 25 people. Also here, the lower entrance is along a finely decorated tunnel inside a building. The upper station in Art Nouveau style is in a tower connected by a little bridge to the square. The entire structure was only brought back to its present early 20th century design during a renovation a couple of years ago.
View from the tower of Levante across the roofs of Genoa
”When I decide to go there,
I'll go to heaven
with the Castelletto Elevator"
(Giorgio Caproni, The Elevator)
The lower entrance to Ascensore Castelletto Levante
In the sixteenth and seventeenth century the Republic took care to surround the town with a state of the art fortification. Many of the walls are still there, frequently incorporated into a park. However, Genoa also preserves parts of its 12th century walls built on initiative of Frederick Barbarossa, emperor of the Holy Roman empire. For many centuries Italy north of the papal state was part of the German empire and the emperor took care to defend his possessions. Even several of the city gates, among them the western gate porta de Vaca, and the eastern gate porta Soprana of this medieval fortification are preserved.
Porta de Vaca of the medieval city wall built by Fredrick I Barbarossa
Outside the porta Soprana the birthplace of Genoa’s best known traveler, Columbus, has been reconstructed and houses a museum. It also allows access to the ruins of a cloister with a colonnade of double columns
The birthplace of Columbus
The 12th century wall has protected a historical center which is still preserved in big parts and forms one of the largest and most-densely populated in Europe. The narrow lanes and streets called caruggi ('alleys') form an obscure maze where new visitors are prone to get lost. High as the ancient buildings are, they are able to keep the sunlight away and therefore maintain cool temperatures even in summer. The alleys are covered with arches and tunnels. Turning around corners they suddenly open to little squares.
Porta de Soprana
Depending on the neighborhood the cave like ground floors house Muslim supper markets, middle east kebab, barber or telephone shops or trendy cafes, fancy restaurants and galleries. After you walk through a narrow alley where escape from the grip of African prostitutes is virtually impossible you enter into a lane where a girl invites you into an art gallery where you have to sit in a confined space behind an enormous and vague piece of art and get headphones on to listen to inexplicable sounds.
Medieval Genoa
In one of the lanes a man starts talking to me. Originally from San Stefano, a small village in Tuscany, he owns the shop hidden behind the enormous walls, a luxurious furniture and interior design shop. The owner invites me to walk around and inspect the building. The lowest foundations are Roman, the vaults of the ground floor medieval, while the apartments upstairs were added in the Renaissance.
The alleys of Medieval Genoa
Many cities all over the world have medieval neighborhoods. Many also are full of special shops, bars or restaurants. Special about Genoa is the combination of the stern medieval quarters, it first sight seedy and run down, with those hip modern establishments.
The maze of Medieval Genoa
Since the lanes are so narrow the use of cars is virtually impossible. This is the world of the Piaggio Ape, a three wheeled version of the Vespa designed in 1948 for use for deliveries, construction workers or as mobile market stalls. Their two wheeled cousins, which turned Italian city centers into dangerous nightmares, are banned here, and the local police is patrolling to keep them and other nuisances like fat bikes out.
Delivery van
Medieval laudry house
In another alley I discover a shop dedicated to exclusively selling records and fan-ware of classical Italian Rock, Pop and folk singers. The walls are decorated with old posters of concerts and photos of stars like Fabrizio de Andrei, Toto Cutugno, Domenico Modugno, Roberto Murolo, Zucchero, Eros Ramazotti, Gianna Nannini, Rosa Balistreri, Maria Carta or Otello Profazio.
Antique and curiosity store
Around the corner they have turned a vaulted basement lavishly decorated with frescos into an Antique store selling everything from furniture to masks, porcelain vases or paintings of different styles which could fill the suitcases of passing American cruise tourists.
Medieval Genoa
Meanwhile groups of Alpini have arrived in Genoa. They are immediately recognizable by their field green outfit and an alpine hat with a feather. The Alpini are a legendary part of the Italian army, famous for their role in the struggle against Austria in the first world war for some godforsaken alpine mountain peaks. The time of their service leads to a tightly knit community, to life-time friendships. Once a year they celebrate at an annual meeting in a town selected for that purpose. From his watch-out position in front of his luxury shop my interlocutor has found a group who seem to come from the area of his village. They start talking about common acquaintances. I cannot follow their Italian and proceed.
One of the many votive shrines at the street corners
I take the bus to Piazza Manin. Line 34 or 36 should drop me somewhere close to the terminus of the Genoa – Casella narrow gauge railway. A bus is waiting at the stop and I get in. It is my first experience with the sign-posting of Italian busses: the stops are not very clearly indicated, frequently the departure times are not shown, sometimes not even the number of the line that stops. Google maps is a good replacement but frequently fails to show local bus lines or updates. In addition, routes are frequently changed according to the traffic situation. Downloading an app and getting used to it each time you visit a new city is cumbersome.
Port of the modern city wall
Police blocking the street
In this case the bus seems to take a different route than indicated in Google maps. I am afraid I am traveling in the wrong direction and get off, walk to another stop. It turns out that the street is blocked by police. Halfway down the block there is a small demonstration. A union. An elderly passer-by curses loudly. I, for my part, like the quiet street. Without the murderous car and motorcycle traffic it is a pleasure to walk here. Maybe they should organize more demonstrations like this.
Union demonstration blocking the street
Eventually I find the right bus. An elderly lady shouts in her telephone loud enough for everybody to hear. It turns out that there are also Italians who don’t like that. A woman complains in vain. The pretty young sitting in the facing seat gives me a knowing smile. The noise gets more bearable.
Train in the terminal of the narrow gauge line to Casella
The station of the narrow gauge line to Casella is on a terrace above the Piazza Manin, without connection to any other public transport. When I reach the entrance everything is fenced off with the well-known temporary fences which so readily become permanent. I find a gap to inspect the rolling stock parked at the platforms. I would have loved to take this train which seems to have guarded some of its vintage atmosphere.
Train in the terminal of the narrow gauge line to Casella
An employee tells me that the line is blocked for works. Until further notice there is a replacement bus service to an intermediate stop somewhere. I decline.
Terminal of the narrow gauge line to Casella
In the neighborhood there are too more, modern lifts. Ascensore Piazza Manin – Via Contardo goes up and Ascensore Via Ponterotto – Via Montello goes down from where I am. The first was built in 1941 and goes up 32 m. Behind the entrance doors with colored glass windows a long barrel vaulted tunnel beautifully decorated with Granito floor and yellow orange called walls leads to the cabins. I cannot discover a ticket machine and mistrust the reader, so I go up without paying. There is nobody else.
Ascensore Piazza Manin – Via Contardo
I hope the Ascensore Via Contardo is used by a lot of blind people
Not far from the top is another of Genoa’s private castles. Castello Mackenzie was built in 1893-1905 in Gothic revival style for Evan Mackenzie, an insurance broker. After it changed proprietors several times it is now owned by an auction house and used as a space for exhibitions from time to time. It looked deserted when I passed.
Castello Mackenzie
I still don’t have any ticket when I arrive at the upper entrance of the Via Ponterotto lift which is hidden in a condominium. Ticket controllers wait in front of the door for passengers coming up to check for their tickets. I look around and ask them where I can find the ticket machine. There is none. They look at each other and eventually agree to let me go without. I had luck. They could have done their job at the top end of the Via Contardo lift.
Entrance to the Via Ponterotto lift
Built in 1967, the lift covers a height of 43 meters. Since I neither see anything that makes it worth to stay down here nor a place where I can buy a ticket to go back up by lift I have to realize that 43 meters corresponds to 288 steps. The scalinata montaldo is painted in blue and red. It is hot and I arrive at the top drenched in sweat.
scalinata montaldo
I look for a place to rest. All the gates to the public parks are closed as result of the invasion of the Alpini. The hotel prizes have risen to an astronomical level and I guess the municipality is afraid that the heroes of the past will get rid of their intoxication on the park benches. Eventually, however, I find a pleasant cafe with energetic owners where I order an Americano. Soon the place fills up with other guest. One comes to read the newspaper. A woman parks her old father in a wheel chair at one of the tables so that he gets some company. Other elderly locals come for a chat. I ask myself whether the owner gets a subsidy from the municipality for his social services. From the price of 1 € charged for an espresso he hardly can survive.
Street corner Cafe in Genoa
After the 17th century, the Genoese Republic slowly declined. In 1768 Corsica was lost to France. The end arrived with the arrival of Napoleon. With the reorganization of Europe after his defeat the Republic became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Nevertheless, in 1843 Italy still was divided into parts owned by the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, Kingdom of the two Sicilies, the Papal Sate, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the city states Lucca, Modena and Parma. Several of these were ruled by Habsburg rulers, family of the Austrian emperor in Vienna, the kingdom of the two Sicilies was ruled by the Bourbons, family of the French king.
But resistance was forming. The resorgimento, the movement for unity and independence of Italy, led by Garibaldi with political and ideological support by Mazzini and Cavour gained momentum. The unification process was completed with the capture of Rome in 1870.
Fake Genoese ship in the old harbor
Genoa resumed its role as a leading seaport. The construction of railways linking the port to the hinterland played a crucial role for the development of a leading industrial and commercial center. Since the 19th century the city has hosted massive shipyards and steelworks. Today it is the busiest port in Italy and in the Mediterranean Sea and twelfth-busiest in the European Union.
Fake Genoese ship in the old harbor
The construction of a busy through road along the seafront led to a separation between the old town center and the port. Meanwhile there are efforts to give the port back to the town and recreate a pedestrian promenade along the waterfront. The famous Genoese architect Renzo Piano has developed a plan for restructuring part of the port for touristic purposes.
Palazzo Ducale
Meanwhile more and more Alpini have arrived. Owners of bars and restaurants want to profit from the invasion and have begun to set up mobile beer stands in the alleys in front of their entrances. Not everybody is glad about it. Graffiti link Alpini to Guerra, war. Even the municipality has suspended an enormous banner from the facade of the Palazzo Ducale, proclaiming “Genoa is against war”.
“Genoa is against war”
Behind the palazzo Ducale I find Genoa’s cathedral. Its roots go back to the 6th century, construction was begun in 1133 as a romanic church and continued in Gothic style after a fire in 1296. Two enormous lions watch over the entrance and look indignantly at the tourists on the steps below them.
The cathedral of Genoa
In 1941 the British bombarded Genoa from the sea. The cathedral was hit by an artillery shell. It can be regarded as a sign of god that the projectile did not explode.
Inside the cathedral of Genoa
The maze-like old town is full of churches hidden in niches and corners behind the thick walls of the old buildings. You stumble into the nave from one side and leave through another door into a entirely different alley, thereby loosing any sense of direction.
Paintings of a baroque vaulted ceiling
I take another break in a church. It is the time of the service. Four priests in black worship each other. The sad baroque statues look down on one single woman in the nave. I don’t dare to make a sound, every step reverberates in the enormous space.
Chiesa di San Felippo Neri
When the service is finished I get out as quickly as possible, afraid of being locked into the empty church. One of the priests personally says farewell to the eager believer. He gives me a knowing smile and locks the main gate from inside.
Some of the many votive shrines on the street corners.....
... and above the entrances
For the previous nights I had found a nice, friendly and good restaurant hidden in the vaulted basement of an alley in the old town. I want to go there again but I am afraid that it is full of noisy Alpini. However, there are none. Instead an ancient mother and her son occupy the neighboring table. The son has come for a visit and wants to make sure that the mother has a pleasant evening out with a nice dinner. Friendly they say bye bye to the stranger when they leave.
Some of the decorations ...
... on the buildings
I would have loved to stay a night more in Genoa, but the invasion of the Alpini has occupied all the affordable hotel rooms. It is time to leave.
19th century shopping passage Galleria Guiseppe Manzzini
Sources:
Mark Twain, The Innocents abroad, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
Some of the people of Genoa
Link to the following post:
Some of the arches and tunnels in the medieval old town
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