Everything about Genoa totally explained
Genoa (
Genova,, in
Italian;
Zena [ˈzeːna] in
Genoese;
Genua in Latin and, archaically, in English) is a
city and an important
seaport in northern
Italy, the capital of the
Province of Genoa and of the
region of
Liguria. The city has a population of ca. 620,000 and the urban area has a population of ca. 890,000.
Origins of the name
Genua was a city of the ancient
Ligurians. Its name is probably
Ligurian, meaning "knee", for example "angle", from its geographical position, thus akin to the name of
Geneva. Or it could derive from the Celtic root genu-, genawa (pl. genowe), meaning "mouth", for example, estuary, or from the Latin word of Celtic origin "ianua", meaning "door". Part of the old city of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List (UNESCO) in 2006 (see below).
Flag
The flag of Genoa is a
St. George's Cross flag, a red cross on a lime white field, identical to the
Flag of England. The flag of Genoa was adopted by
England and the
City of London in 1190 so their ships entering the Mediterranean would benefit from the protection of the powerful Genoese fleet. But the actual origins of the flag are unclear.
History
Ancient era and early Middle Ages
Genoa's history goes back to ancient times. The first historically known inhabitants of the area are the
Ligures, an Italic tribe. The attribution of its foundation to
Celts in 2500–2000 BC has been recently recognized as wrong.
A city cemetery, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, testifies to the occupation of the site by the
Greeks, but the fine harbor probably was in use much earlier, perhaps by the
Etruscans. It is also probable that the
Phoenicians had bases in Genoa, or in the nearby area, since an inscription with an alphabet similar to that used in
Tyre has been found .
In the
Roman era, Genoa was overshadowed by the powerful
Marseille and
Vada Sabatia, near modern
Savona. Different from other Ligures and Celt settlements of the area, it was allied to Rome through a
foedus aequum ("Equal pact") in the course of the
Second Punic War. It was therefore destroyed by the
Carthaginians in 209 BC. The town was rebuilt and, after the end of the Carthaginian Wars, received municipal rights. The original
castrum thenceforth expanded towards the current areas of Santa Maria di Castello and the San Lorenzo promontory. Genoese trades included skins, wood, and honey. Goods were shipped in the mainland up to important cities like
Tortona and
Piacenza.
After the fall of the
Western Roman Empire, Genoa was occupied by the
Ostrogoths. After the
Gothic War, the Byzantines made it the seat of their vicar. The
Lombards submitted it in 643. In 773 the Lombard Kingdom was annexed by the
Frank empire; the first Carolingian count of Genoa was Ademarus, who was given the title
praefectus civitatis Genuensis. Ademarus died in Corsica while fighting against the Saracens. In this period the Roman walls, destroyed by the Lombards, were rebuilt and extended.
For the following several centuries, Genoa was little more than a small, obscure fishing center, slowly building its merchant fleet which was to become the leading commercial carrier of the Mediterranean Sea. The town was sacked and burned in 934 by Arab pirates but it was quickly rebuilt.
In the 10th century the city, now part of the
Marca Januensis ("Genoese Mark") was under the Obertenghi family, whose first member was Obertus I. Genoa was one of the first cities in Italy to have some citizenship rights granted by local feudataries.
Middle Ages and Renaissance
Before 1100, Genoa emerged as an independent
city-state, one of a number of
Italian city-states during this period. Nominally, the
Holy Roman Emperor was overlord and the
Bishop of Genoa was president of the city; however, actual power was wielded by a number of "consuls" annually elected by popular assembly. Genoa was one of the so-called "Maritime Republics" (
Repubbliche Marinare), along with
Venice,
Pisa, and
Amalfi) and trade, shipbuilding and banking helped support one of the largest and most powerful navies in the
Mediterranean. The
Adorno,
Campofregoso, and other smaller merchant families all fought for power in this
Republic, as the power of the consuls allowed each family faction to gain wealth and power in the city. The
Republic of Genoa extended over modern
Liguria and
Piedmont, Sardinia, Corsica and had practically complete control of the
Tyrrhenian Sea. Through Genoese participation on the
Crusades, colonies were established in the
Middle East, in the
Aegean, in
Sicily and Northern
Africa. Genoese Crusaders brought home a green glass goblet from the
Levant, which Genoese long regarded as the
Holy Grail.
The collapse of the
Crusader States was offset by Genoa’s alliance with the
Byzantine Empire, which opened opportunities of expansion into the
Black Sea and
Crimea. Internal feuds between the powerful families, the
Grimaldi and
Fieschi, the
Doria,
Spinola, and others caused much disruption, but in general the republic was run much as a business affair. In 1218–1220 Genoa was served by the
Guelph podestà Rambertino Buvalelli, who probably introduced
Occitan literature to the city, which was soon to boast such
troubadours as
Jacme Grils,
Lanfranc Cigala, and
Bonifaci Calvo. Genoa's political zenith came with its victory over the Duchy of
Pisa at the naval
Battle of Meloria (1284), and its persistent rival, Venice, in 1298.
However, this prosperity didn't last. The
Black Death was imported into Europe in 1349 from the Genoese trading post at
Caffa (
Theodosia) in Crimea, on the Black Sea. Following the economic and population collapse, Genoa adopted the Venetian model of government, and was presided over by a
doge (see
Doge of Genoa). The wars with Venice continued, and the
War of Chioggia (1378–1381), ended with a victory for Venice. After a period of French domination from 1394–1409, Genoa came under rule by the
Visconti of
Milan. Genoa lost Sardinia to
Aragon, Corsica to internal revolt and its Middle Eastern colonies to the
Ottoman Empire and the Arabs.
Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa, donated one-tenth of his income from the discovery of the
Americas for
Spain to the
Bank of San Giorgio in Genoa for the relief of taxation on foods. The Spanish connection was reinforced by
Andrea Doria, who established a new constitution in 1528, making Genoa a satellite of the Spanish Empire. Under the ensuing economic recovery, many Genoese families amassed tremendous fortunes. At the time of Genoa’s peak in the 16th century, the city attracted many artists, including
Rubens,
Caravaggio and
Van Dyck. The famed architect
Galeazzo Alessi (1512–1572) designed many of the city’s splendid
palazzi. A number of
Genoese Baroque and Rococo artists settled elsewhere and a number of local artists became prominent.
Genoa suffered from French bombardment in 1684, and was occupied by
Austria in 1746 during the
War of the Austrian Succession. In 1768, Genoa was forced to also cede Corsica to France.
Modern history
With the shift in world economy and trade routes to the New World and away from the Mediterranean, Genoa's political and economic power went into steady decline.
In 1797, under pressure from
Napoleon, Genoa became a French protectorate called the
Ligurian Republic, which was annexed by France in 1805. This affair is commemorated in the famous first sentence of
Tolstoy's
War and Peace:
"Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes.(...) And what do you think of this latest comedy, the coronation at Milan, the comedy of the people of Genoa and Lucca laying their petitions [tobe annexed to France] before Monsieur Buonaparte, and Monsieur Buonaparte sitting on a throne and granting the petitions of the nations?" (spoken by a thoroughly anti-Boanapartist Russian aristocrat, soon after the news reached Saint Petersburg).
Although the Genoese revolted against France in 1814 and liberated the city on their own, delegates at the
Congress of Vienna sanctioned its incorporation into
Piedmont (
Kingdom of Sardinia), thus ending the three century old struggle by the
House of Savoy to acquire the city. The king of Piedmont even sent the Bersaglieri to sack the city, defining the Genoese as "scum". The city soon gained a reputation as a hotbed of anti-Savoy republican agitation, although the union with Savoy was economically very beneficial. With the growth of the
Risorgimento movement, the Genoese turned their struggles from
Giuseppe Mazzini's vision of a local republic into a struggle for a unified
Italy under a liberalized Savoy monarchy. In 1860,
Giuseppe Garibaldi set out from Genoa with over a thousand volunteers to begin the campaign. This is called the departure of the thousands and a monument is set on the rock where the group departed from.
During
World War II the British fleet bombarded Genoa and one bomb fell into the cathedral of San Lorenzo without exploding. It is now available to public viewing on the cathedral premises.
The
27th G8 summit in the city, in July 2001, was overshadowed by violent protests, with one protester,
Carlo Giuliani, killed amid accusations of police brutality. Trials of accused officials are ongoing as of 2007. In 2004, the
European Union designated Genoa as the
European Capital of Culture, along with the French city of
Lille.
Main sights
» For a more extensive list, see .
The main features of central Genoa include Piazza de Ferrari, around which are sited the Opera and the
Palace of the Doges. There is also a house where
Christopher Columbus is said to have been born.
Strada Nuova (now Via Garibaldi), in the old city, was inscribed on the
World Heritage List in 2006. This district was designed in the mid-16th century to accommodate Mannerist palaces of the city's most eminent families, including
Palazzo Rosso (now a museum),
Palazzo Bianco, Palazzo Grimaldi and
Palazzo Reale. The famous art college, Musei di Strada Nuova and the Palazzo del Principe are also located on this street.
Other landmarks of the city include
St. Lawrence Cathedral (
Cattedrale di San Lorenzo), the Old Harbor (
Porto Antico), transformed into a mall by architect
Renzo Piano, and the famous
cemetery of Staglieno, renowned for its monuments and statues. The
Museo d'Arte Orientale has one of the largest collections of Oriental art in Europe. The 19th century neo-gothic castle,
Castello d'Albertis, once home to explorer Enrico Alberto d'Albertis, now houses the
Museum of World Cultures.
Other than the old city sights, Genoa also has a large
aquarium located in the above-mentioned old harbor. The
Aquarium of Genoa is one of the largest in
Europe.
The port of Genoa also contains an ancient
lighthouse, called the "
Torre della Lanterna" (for example, "the tower of the lantern"). It is the oldest working lighthouse in the world, one of the five tallest, and the tallest brick one, and it's Genoa's landmark.
Boccadasse is a picturesque neighborhood in the east side of the city.
Demographics
The population is homogeneously
Italian. Southern and northern Italians alike flocked to the city during the late 1900s. As of 2006, an estimated 94.32% of the population is of Italian origin. But there has been a sharp increase of
immigrants mostly from South America, Eastern Europe, and a very meagre number from
Asia.
(External Link
)
Immigrants by country (2006):
Sports
Football
Genoa Cricket & Football Club gives to the City of Genoa the very first
football club founded in Italy. The club was founded in 1893 by James Spensley, an English doctor, and has won 9 championships and a Italy Cup.
Another
football club in the city is
U.C. Sampdoria, founded in 1946 from the merger of two existing clubs, Andrea Doria (founded in 1895) and Sampierdarenese (founded in 1911). Sampdoria has won one Italian championship, 4 Italy Cups and 1 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1989/90.
Famous people
Famous Genoese include Sinibaldo and Ottobuono Fieschi (Popes
Innocent IV and
Adrian V) and Pope
Benedict XV, navigators
Christopher Columbus,
Enrico Alberto d'Albertis and
Andrea Doria, composers
Niccolò Paganini and
Michele Novaro, Italian patriots
Giuseppe Mazzini and
Nino Bixio, writer and translator
Fernanda Pivano, poet
Edoardo Sanguineti, Communist politician
Palmiro Togliatti, architect
Renzo Piano, Physics 2002 Nobel Prize winner
Riccardo Giacconi, Literature 1975 Nobel Prize winner
Eugenio Montale, the royal portraitist Giovanni Maria delle Piane (Il Mulinaretto) from the
Delle Piane family, the artist
Vanessa Beecroft, comedians
Gilberto Govi,
Paolo Villaggio,
Beppe Grillo,
Luca Bizzarri,
Paolo Kessisoglu and
Maurizio Crozza;
singer-songwriters Fabrizio de André and
Ivano Fossati, actor
Vittorio Gassman, and actress
Moana Pozzi, Giorgio Parodi who conceived the motorcycle company
Moto Guzzi with Carlo Guzzi and Giovanni Ravelli. Some reports say Giovanni Caboto (
John Cabot) is also from Genoa, others say he was from
Savona.
Miscellaneous
The University of Genoa, with 40,000 students (one of the largest universities in Italy) was founded in 1471. Its botanical garden, the Orto Botanico dell'Università di Genova, occupies one hectare in the city center.
The word jeans comes from Genoa, as a way to pronounce genoese.
The Genoese have primarily immigrated to South America; Uruguay, Chile, Argentina all have strong Genoese communities. The special strong connection with Argentina is witnessed by the famous song Ma se ghe penso, and by the episode From the Apennines to the Andes in the book Cuore (Heart) by Edmondo De Amicis; the supporters of the Boca Juniors football team, rooted in the neighborhood of La Boca, in Buenos Aires, are known as los xeneizes (a nickname deriving from the word zeneise, which means "genoese" in their language). Farinata (Fainâ as they call it, a chickpea flatbread) and Torta Pasqualina (a salty artichokes, eggs, and cheese pie) are widely spread in those countries as local dishes, but they're from Genoa.
A significant portion of Gibraltar's population is of Genoese origin, since the arrival of Genoese inhabitants in the XVI century. For that reason, a variant of Genoese dialect was still spoken in Gibraltar up to the end of the XVIII century.
The Yiddish word Yanova with which Ashkenazi Jews are most commonly calling the Diamante Citron, is a jargon from the city of Genoa which was the cultivation and shipping center for the citron or as they're calling it Etrog.
Florida International University in Miami, Florida in the United States has a regional campus in Genoa.
Sister cities
Baltimore, USA
Boston, USA
Chios, Greece
Columbus, USA
Guayaquil, Ecuador
Huelva, Spain
Marseille, France
Odessa, Ukraine
Rijeka, Croatia
Saint Petersburg, RussiaFurther Information
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