Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
museum card; Tues-Sat 8:30am-7:30pm, Sun 1-8pm).
It displays a smaller but
better selection of artworks than those in the Musei di Strada Nuova (including a
particularly haunting
Ecce homo
by Antonello da Messina, and fine portraits of
Genoese patrons by Rubens and van Dyck). Artworks have detailed descriptions
in English, and the attic (take a look at the rooftop to see where the Genoese ser-
vants would come up for air) has textiles and ceramics that provide insight into
the life and times of one of Genoa's wealthiest families, who donated the house to
the city after extensive bomb damage in World War II.
From here you should head in the general direction of Palazzo Ducale and San
Lorenzo Cathedral, cut through
Campetto
—one of the old city's most charming
“breathers”—and pass
Piazza Matteo,
the Dorias' old stamping grounds (before
Admiral Andrea, Genoa's uncrowned king, moved up and out, building his
Palazzo del Principe Doria Pamphilj,
located just beyond the Stazione Principe).
A hodgepodge of Romanesque, Gothic, and baroque styles,
San Lorenzo
Cathedral,
the city's religious heart, is nevertheless an interesting stop, particu-
larly if you set aside the time to visit the Cathedral's
Museo del Tesoro
(
%
010-
2471831;
€
5.50; Mon-Sat 9am-noon and 3-6pm).
Worth visiting for Franco
Albini's 1950s interior design alone, the Treasury claims to house the ashes of St.
John the Baptist—a claim dating back to 1099, when the Genoese soldiers who
played a crucial role in liberating the Holy Land during the First Crusade
returned triumphant, bearing the saint's remains. Besides the purported ashes, the
treasury houses a number of fascinating relics (including a green glass bowl said
to be the Holy Grail, and the platter upon which the martyr's head was presented
to Salome).
Behind the cathedral, alongside the 16th-century
Palazzo Ducale
(now an
important exhibition space featuring the city's best temporary exhibitions; to find
out what's showing, visit www.palazzoducale.genova.it), is
Del Gesù,
built by the
Jesuits between the 16th and 19th centuries. This is Genoa's finest baroque
church, with a wealth of marble and gilded plaster covering every crevice (so
much so that some of the city's more puritanical citizens have suggested that God
is offended by such vulgarity).
From Del Gesù you can wander up to the twin-towered
A
.
D
. 1155
Porta
Soprana
(avoid the nearby house museum purporting to be where Columbus
grew up; it's a total rip-off, with nothing of interest inside), or slip through to
Piazza Ferrari.
Personally I'd plunge back into the mysterious honeycomb, head-
ing farther south to the oldest part of the city to view the Genoese church that
tops my list: the restrained, serenely beautiful Romanesque
San Donato,
a mil-
lion miles from the baroque style of Del Gesù, yet only a short stroll away, down
Via Pollaiuoli. Surrounded by 11th-century city walls, it was untarnished by the
baroque fever that gripped the city some 600 years later; its simple interior is a
touching ode to a millennium of faithful worship. Holy Mass begins at 6pm
Monday to Saturday; 10:45am on Sunday.
From here you can either take a look at the impressive
Faculty of
Architecture,
located in the nearby Convent of San Silvestro (there are great
views of the city from here), or head downhill along Via dei Giustiniani or Via
Canneto il Lungo, passing Muslim butchers, bars, and the
Bottega di Barbiere
(Vicolo Caprettari, 14), a gorgeous barbershop and one of Genoa's many Art
Nouveau treasures—to the Porto Antico.
