For centuries Genoa was much bigger than its walls. Its galleys reached Crimea and the Black Sea, its colonies were scattered across the Mediterranean and, in the sixteenth century, its bankers financed the kings of Spain with the silver of the Americas. Out of its alleys also came a weaver named Domenico Colombo, father of Christopher Columbus. Twelve stops between the medieval gate beside the Colombo house, the palace of the doges, the striped cathedral that keeps an unexploded shell, the square of the Doria family, the street of the bankers' palaces, the square of the money changers, the palace where Marco Polo dictated his travels, the old harbour, the museum of the sea and of the emigrants, the villa of admiral Andrea Doria, the Lanterna lighthouse and the shipyards of Sestri Ponente. Approximate audio duration: 21 minutes.
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Génova: la república de mercaderes que le prestaba dinero a los reyes de España
Durante siglos, Génova fue mucho más grande que sus murallas. Sus galeras llegaban a Crimea y al Mar Negro, sus colonias se repartían por el Mediterráneo y, en el siglo XVI, sus banqueros financiaron a los reyes de España con la plata de América. De sus callejones salió también un tejedor llamado Domenico Colombo, padre de Cristóbal Colón. Doce paradas entre la puerta medieval junto a la casa de los Colombo, el palacio de los dux, la catedral rayada que guarda una bomba sin explotar, la plaza de los Doria, la calle de los palacios de los banqueros, la plaza de los cambistas, el palacio donde Marco Polo dictó sus viajes, el puerto antiguo, el museo del mar y de los emigrantes, la villa del almirante Andrea Doria, el faro de la Lanterna y los astilleros de Sestri Ponente. Duración aproximada de audio: 21 minutos.
Tour stops
12 stops · ~21 min of audio · 11.04 km on foot (~2 h 45 min walking) · about 3 h 15 min in total
You are standing in front of two stone towers joined by an arch. This is Porta Soprana, one of the gates in the wall Genoa built in the mid twelfth century. It was raised in a hurry, because Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was threatening to march into Italy.
Now look down to the left. That little ivy-covered house is known as Columbus's house. The building you see was rebuilt in the eighteenth century, but on this spot lived the family of Domenico Colombo, a wool weaver.
The Genoese records are clear: Domenico was also the keeper of another city gate, the Olivella. And his son Cristoforo was b…
2
The Palace of the Doges
You are in front of the Palazzo Ducale, the palace where the doges of Genoa governed. Its neoclassical façade is misleading. Behind it stands a building that began to grow at the end of the thirteenth century.
Genoa was a republic for more than five hundred years. In 1339 it chose its first doge for life, Simone Boccanegra, a man of popular origin. Centuries later Verdi wrote an opera about him.
But those lifelong doges rarely finished their terms. The great families, the Doria, the Spinola, the Fieschi, the Grimaldi, fought over the city, and Genoa lived among factions, uprisings and foreig…
3
The Striped Cathedral and the Shell That Never Exploded
You are in front of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo. Look at the stripes: white stone and dark stone, alternating. In Genoa this striped pattern was reserved for churches and for the buildings of the most powerful families.
The cathedral was consecrated in 1118 by Pope Gelasius II. The façade you see is largely Gothic, from the thirteenth century. Notice the two stone lions guarding the steps.
Now go inside and look, in the right-hand aisle, for an elongated metal object. It is a naval artillery shell. On 9 February 1941, in the middle of the Second World War, the British fleet bombarded Genoa …
4
The Square of the Doria
You are in Piazza San Matteo, one of the smallest and best preserved squares in Genoa. Everything around you belonged to a single family: the Doria. The church, the striped houses, the square itself.
That is how medieval Genoa worked. Each great clan had its own quarter, its church and its towers. The narrow alleys you walked through, the caruggi, were also a defence: during an attack, each family sealed off its territory.
The church of San Matteo was founded in 1125 by Martino Doria. In its crypt lies Andrea Doria, the admiral you will meet later on this walk.
Look at the inscriptions on t…
5
The Street of the Bankers
You are on Via Garibaldi, which for centuries was called Strada Nuova. Notice how everything changes: after the dark alleys, suddenly there is a straight, bright street with palaces lined up side by side.
It was laid out from 1550 for the richest families of the republic. And their wealth had a precise source: loans to the Spanish Crown.
From the moment Andrea Doria allied with Charles V in 1528, Genoese bankers became the financiers of the empire. They lent money to pay armies in Flanders and Italy, and were repaid with the silver arriving from the Americas in Seville.
The business was hug…
6
The Square of the Money Changers
You are in Piazza Banchi. The name says it all: this is where the banchi were set up, the wooden benches of the money changers. On those benches coins from half the Mediterranean changed hands.
In 1252 Genoa minted the genovino, a gold coin. That same year Florence issued its florin. They were among the first gold coins struck in Western Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire.
Look at the open building with columns. It is the Loggia dei Mercanti, built at the end of the sixteenth century. Merchants met there to close deals, set prices and trade bills of exchange.
The bill of exchange was…
7
Marco Polo's Prison and the Bank of San Giorgio
You are in front of Palazzo San Giorgio. Look at the façade facing the harbour, covered in frescoes, with Saint George slaying the dragon. It was painted in the early seventeenth century.
The building itself is much older. It was commissioned in 1260 by Guglielmo Boccanegra, who ruled the city as captain of the people. It was the first seat of Genoa's civil government.
After the war with Venice at the end of the thirteenth century, several Venetians were held prisoner here. Among them was Marco Polo. During his captivity he told the story of his travels across Asia to a fellow prisoner, Rust…
8
The Harbour That Reached Crimea
You are at Porto Antico, the maritime heart of the old republic. The white structure that looks like a crane with outstretched arms is called the Bigo. It was designed by the Genoese architect Renzo Piano.
This whole waterfront was renewed for the 1992 Expo, which marked five hundred years since Columbus's first voyage. Before that, the old port was cut off from the city by warehouses and railway lines.
Picture this quay in the fourteenth century. From here galleys sailed for Constantinople, where Genoa had its own quarter, Pera, across the Golden Horn. And they went further still, into the …
9
The Museum of the Sea and of Those Who Left
You are in front of the Galata Museo del Mare, at the Darsena. Its name recalls Galata, the Genoese quarter of Constantinople. It opened in 2004 and is one of the largest maritime museums in the Mediterranean.
Inside is a full-scale reconstruction of a seventeenth-century Genoese galley. Walking through it, you understand what rowing there meant. The oarsmen were chained: convicts, slaves captured in war and also men who hired themselves out through poverty.
The Darsena where you are standing was the area of the republic's arsenal. Here the galleys that defended the trade routes were built a…
10
The Villa of Admiral Andrea Doria
You are in front of the Palazzo del Principe, the villa of Andrea Doria. When it was built, in the first half of the sixteenth century, it stood outside the walls, with gardens running straight down to the sea.
Andrea Doria was born in 1466 and was a condottiere of the sea. He owned his own galleys and hired them out to whoever paid. For years he served the King of France, Francis I.
In 1528 he switched sides and went over to Emperor Charles V. In return Genoa regained its independence from France, under Spanish protection. That pact opened the door to the loans and the silver you heard abou…
11
The Lanterna, the Republic's Lighthouse
You are in front of the Lanterna, the lighthouse of Genoa. Look at its shape: two square towers stacked one on top of the other, on a rock. It stands about 77 metres tall and is one of the tallest and oldest working lighthouses in the world.
There was already a tower on this spot in the twelfth century, where fires were lit to guide ships. In the Middle Ages it was also used to signal vessels approaching the port.
City records say that in 1449 one of its keepers was Antonio Colombo. He was the uncle of Christopher Columbus. The family appears in Genoese documents in very concrete trades: wea…
12
Sestri Ponente, Where Genoa Still Builds Ships
You are in Sestri Ponente, at the western edge of Genoa. Until 1926 it was a separate town. Today it is one of the city's districts, squeezed between the mountains and a shoreline lined with cranes.
Look towards the sea. Those huge structures are the shipyards. One of the main yards of Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilding company, operates here, building cruise ships for thousands of passengers.
Shipbuilding on this coast goes back a long way. For centuries the beaches of the Genoese Ponente, between Sampierdarena, Sestri and Voltri, were places where wooden ships were built.
A little furt…
How long does the "Genoa: the Merchant Republic That Lent Money to the Kings of Spain" audio tour take?
It has about 21 minutes of audio across 12 stops and a 11.04 km walking route (~2 h 45 min on foot). Plan roughly 3 h 15 min in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "The Medieval Gate and the Colombo House" (coordinates 44.4053, 8.9359). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Genoa and pick "Genoa: the Merchant Republic That Lent Money to the Kings of Spain". No account required to start.
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No wifi needed · Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian
