Around the old harbour

Starting point of this itinerary is piazza del Principe, few steps away from Principe railway Station, so you can arrive here either by car or by train.
The route, all on foot, previews a short deviation to Via Fanti d’Italia to see the Maritime Station, then continues along Via Gramsci until Piazza Caricamento, as variation, you can decide to follow the central axis Via Pré-Via del Campo. After that, visit to the exhibition area of the Old Harbour and return to the centre along Via del Molo.

Palazzo Doria Pamphili o del Principe

Built under Andrea Doria’ will, the palace in origin stretched from the hill at the back of it until the sea with its fountains, gardens and loggias, and it was equipped with a private pier.
The today’s arrangement doesn’t do justice to the building. In the façade you can admire the elegant doorway, Silvio Cosini’s masterpiece, originally projected by Perin del Vaga, the architect charged by the admiral Andrea Doria to adorn the whole residence. The Florentine artist paid him back for the trust, as you can see admiringAndrea Doria’s Apartments: starting from the atrium, you can proceed to the Loggia degli Eroi (Heroes’ Loggia) and the salone della caduta dei Giganti (Giants’ Fall Hall), official hall housing the famous portrait of Andrea Doria as Admiral of the Pope’s Fleet, by Sebastiano del Piombo. 

The gallery houses a group of wonderful tapestries dedicated to Lepanto Battle made in Bruxelles between 1582 ad 1591. In the southern front the colonnade and terraced foreparts are the frames of the Italian Garden, divided into a series of terraces arranged at the end of the 16th Century. In the centre of the garden there is the Neptune Fountain, carved at the end of the 16th Century by Taddeo Carlone, while the Triton’s one is by Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli (1543).

Ocean Terminal

The building, in eclectic style, terminal of big transatlantic ships, was built to face the great expansion of overseas traffic; the restoration in the first Nineties of the 20th Century gave it complete functionality again. In the interior, divided into three levels, the custom hall, decorated by “tourist” frescoes, is worth seeing. Together with further renovation interventions, in front of the main access a fountain with a bronze screw of 4,5 Metres Diameter was inaugurated in 2001. Behind the Ocean Terminal you can see the Pier “Ponte dei Mille”, from where in the past steamboats with their load of emigrants left to America.

Via Gramsci

This road, whose ancient name was “Via Carlo Alberto”, has been recently interested by the works for the building of the underground. You can admire palaces dating back to the 19th Century.

S. Giovanni di Prè

Built in 1180 – as the plaque at the basement of the beautiful cuspidate bell-tower remembers – the complex includes two sacred places placed upon, risen on a previous Church dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre; this church received the presumed ashes of Saint John the Baptist, later moved to the Cathedral. It was used exclusively by the Knights of the order of Saint John, who acceded to it from the first floor of the “Commenda”, already seat of a convent, elegantly renovated in 1508 and now seat of exhibitions. 
The lower church, whose access is a Romanesque portal at the right side of the church, corresponds to just the central nave of the upper church, divided into three naves with cross vaults. The upper church is divided into three naves through mighty columns and stone arcades. It houses works by Lorenzo De Ferrari, Bernardo Castello and Giulio Benso.

Via Prè

with its stalls and shops permits, as alternative to ViaGramsci, di proseguire l’itinerario entrando nel cuore dell’abitato. Anche se il toponimo rivela la situazione di scarsa urbanizzazione di qell’area nei secoli XI-XII, non vi mancano alcune case medievali, che aggiungono ulteriore fascino alla sua atmosfera da suq mediterraneo.

Door of Vacca or S.Fede

Incorporated to 17th Century-old Palaces, this door represent the western entrance of the wall erected in 1155 to protect the city. The fornix is flanked by two mighty side towers with horseshoe bat map, connected by a communication trench with merlons and decorated, in the internal side, by a porch.
Port dei Vacca leads to Via Del Campo, remembered in a famous song byFabrizio De André. You can admire the elegant façades of some noble residences, like the 17th Century-old palazzo Cellario and the palace ofAntonio Doria Invrea, built in 1540 and decorated in the upper floors by that time faded frescoes.
You can still read very well instead the plaque on the columns remembering Giulio Cesare Vacchero, accused of conspiracy against the country and sentenced to death in 1628. Further, on the right, you can see Piccamiglio Tower, of medieval origin. 

Piazza Fossatello

whose creation dates back to 1158, was rebuilt in 1540, together with the extension of Cipriano Pallavicino’s Palace, characterized by a nice mannerist façade. The name of the quarters of the Darsena (Basin) remembers the names of some medieval colonies of Republic of Genoa. The complex, inaugurated in 1895, it has been recently reconverted, with the opening of the Faculty of Economics in the quarter Scio. From here you can walk along the nice seafront leading to the old harbour.

Via di Sottoripa

This arcade was built in 1133 by the Commune, and it was destined to shops and stalls. Under its vaults is trade still present. The square in front of it, Piazza Caricamento, was before the harbour terminal and now it is a pedestrian area, set free by traffic thanks to the constructions of the underpass between Via Gramsci and Piazza Cavour.