Genoa
Historic city in northwest Italy, capital of Liguria, on the Gulf of Genoa, 400 km/249 mi northwest of Rome; population (2001 est) 603,600. It is Italy's largest port, with a major container port facility at Voltri, 10 km/6 mi to the west. An outlet for the Po Valley and for central Europe, the port handles extensive passenger and freight traffic. Industries include oil-refining, chemicals, engineering, and the manufacture of textiles.
History
Founded in about the 8th century
BC, Genoa was destroyed by the Carthaginian general
Mago in 204
BC, but was later rebuilt by the Romans. Decline followed its conquest by the Lombards in 640, but from the 10th century it established a commercial empire in the western Mediterranean, rivalling Middle Eastern trade in the region, and founding trading posts in Corsica, Sardinia, North Africa, and Spain. During the period of the crusades further colonies were founded in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and on the Black Sea, where Genoese merchants enjoyed the protection of the Byzantine Empire. At its peak in about 1300, the city had a virtual monopoly of European trade with the East. Strife between lower-class Genoese and the ruling mercantile-aristocratic oligarchy led to weakness and domination by a succession of foreign powers, including Pope John XXII (1249–1334), Robert of Anjou, king of Naples (1318–43), and Charles VI of France (1368–1422). During the 15th century, most of its trade and colonies were taken over by Venice or the Ottomans.
Rebuilt and greatly modernized after severe damage in World War II and heavy storms in 1954–55 it became the busiest port on the Mediterranean, and the first to build modern container facilities. The nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini, the explorer Christopher Columbus, and the composer Niccolò Paganini were born here.
Features Genoa is widely spread out along the coast, and enclosed by hill slopes covered with buildings, gardens, and orange groves. In the lower part of the city there are the ancient streets and carruggio dritto (lanes) of the medieval town; modern commercial and residential districts; harbours with quays, breakwaters, and the Lanterna (lighthouse); and a sea promenade. |
Economy Greater Genoa, extending over 30 km/19 mi along the coast from Nervi to Voltri, serves the industrial heartlands of Lombardy and Piedmont, handling a wide range of products and also considerable passenger traffic. It is a modern port, with an extension towards Sestri Ponente to take container ships; the nearby Voltri container facility is the largest in the Mediterranean. Much of the city's industry is associated with ships or raw material imports, including paper, textiles, food processing, oil-refining, and shipbuilding and repairing. There is an iron and steel works at Cornigliano, and heavy engineering producing armaments, and marine and diesel engines. Genoa has well-developed national and trans-Alpine road and rail communications. |
Architecture Genoa's many palaces include the Palazzo Ducale, once the residence of the doges, and now the Courts of Law; the 18th-century Palazzo Reale, containing many art treasures; and the 16th-century Palazzo Principe, which was once the ‘court’ of the Genoese soldier Andrea Doria. The palazzi Bianco and Rosso, and Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti have collections of paintings, in particular works by Genoese artists. The partly 12th-century Cathedral of San Lorenzo is mainly Gothic in style; it has a 16th-century campanile (bell-tower), and its facade is banded in black and white marble. Among other churches are the basilica of Sta Maria Assunta di Carignano (16th–18th centuries), which has five cupolas and contains baroque statues; the 12th-century church of Sta Maria di Castello; and the 17th-century church of Santissima Annunziata, to which belongs an important collection of 17th-century Genoese art. The university dates from 1243. |
Struggle for power In the 13th century the growing power and wealth of the city excited the rivalry of Pisa and a long drawn-out struggle began, which culminated in the defeat of Pisa at Meloria in 1284. The Genoese traders' colonial expansion led to conflict with Venice, and to the defeat of the Genoese at Chioggia in 1380. The troubles of the city were further accentuated by internal strife between the pro-papal Guelphs and pro-imperial Ghibellines, and by rivalries between the city's main families. Other states intervened in these struggles, and Genoa was subjected in the 15th and 16th centuries by both Milan and France. |
| The city's independence was secured by Andrea Doria in the 16th century, but its fortunes began to wane; it lost its oriental possessions to the Turks, its trade declined as a result of the discovery of America, and it fell eventually under the domination of Spain. In 1768 Genoa sold Corsica to France, and in the upheavals following the revolution in France the city was first made the metropolis of the ‘Ligurian Republic’ (1798) and was eventually incorporated in the Napoleonic Empire. After the fall of Napoleon I, Genoa went to the House of Savoy as a duchy of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1815), and eventually became part of united Italy. |
Genoa
| Province of northwest Italy in central Liguria region; capital Genoa; area 1,838 sq km/710 sq mi; population (2000 est) 907,600. |
