Genova for Everyone
Genoa and surroundings
An accessible itinerary for everyone to discover Genoa and its secrets
Genoa has always been an open and accessible place for everyone: sailors, merchants, artists, scientists, and travellers. Despite being an ancient city, it still maintains this openness today, with many sites accessible to people with disabilities. This itinerary will allow you to explore the city and fall in love with it.
I Caruggi
The caruggi are the heart of Genoa's historic centre. Look around; you’ll find everything: small shops, streets rich in history, hidden gem-like squares, popular buildings, and monumental palaces. To start, you can cross Via di Prè, the Genoese casbah, which is a true journey through the world’s aromas, and visit the Mei – Museum of Migrations. Then, venture down Via del Campo: it’s a gentle incline, but the voice of Fabrizio De André, who set one of his most beautiful songs here, will help you dream. There’s also a museum dedicated to De André and the Genoese singer-songwriter school. If you continue along Via Lomellini, you can visit the Oratory of San Filippo Neri, known for its excellent acoustics and concert performances (including a performance by Paganini). It’s worth making a small effort (Genoa is a vertical city but always rewards your efforts) to reach Via Garibaldi, home to the magnificent Palazzi dei Rolli, decorated by the greatest artists of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Visit Palazzo Bianco, which is spread across three floors and is fully accessible, Palazzo Tursi (accessible on request from Palazzo Bianco), and Palazzo Rosso: this palace features a beautiful tactile pathway guiding blind visitors to the information point and the room on the ground floor, and hosts a multisensory model of the street from the late 1500s.
Porto Antico
The Porto Antico, designed by Renzo Piano, is a vast area specifically created to allow free access and movement for all visitors, both disabled and able-bodied: from the paving and access points to the removal of architectural barriers, parking, and individual structures. Two tactile maps make the architectural layout of the entire area visible to those who are blind. There is a playground equipped with swings with both classic seats and accessible seats that allow children with disabilities to swing safely, along with sensory play equipment for touch, sound, and sight. Additionally, the trauma-safe flooring is perfectly accessible for wheelchairs. From the Porto Antico, you can access the Genoa Aquarium and the Children's City.
Piazza De Ferrari
You cannot miss visiting it; it is the vibrant heart of Genoa. There you will find majestic architecture, the Teatro Carlo Felice, Palazzo Ducale, Palazzo della Borsa, and Palazzo della Regione Liguria. From Piazza De Ferrari, you can head to the shopping street, Via XX Settembre, or to the city's devotion street, Via San Lorenzo, featuring the extraordinary Cathedral of San Lorenzo, a beautiful example of Ligurian Gothic in white marble and slate.
Spianata Castelletto
It’s the best way to see Genoa from above; it will feel as if you’re flying over the rooftops of the alleys, with your gaze sweeping from west to east, amidst bell towers, ridge tiles, skyscrapers, and a sea of slate roofs. It is accessed via a convenient Liberty-style lift in Piazza Portello. Some, like Giorgio Caproni in a famous poem, dreamed of taking this lift to reach paradise.
La passeggiata Anita Garibaldi
The Passeggiata Anita Garibaldi in Genoa Nervi is where locals go when they want to start or end their day on a high note. The sunrises from this elegant promenade are breathtaking, and the sunsets are dramatic. On one side, to the west, is the Nervi Harbour; on the other, to the east, are the parks with their green canopies. Walk the entire length until you find the plaque dedicated to Anita Garibaldi and the one for the Russian poet Marina Cvetaeva, the brilliant and unfortunate Russian poet who stayed here as a child from November 1902 to May 1903. It is no coincidence that this place, once a path for fishermen and farmers, has become a true seaside promenade named after one of the most important women of Liguria and Italy, Anita Garibaldi, also known as Ana Maria de Jesus Ribeiro, wife of Giuseppe Garibaldi, and known as the "heroine of the two worlds." The promenade can be accessed from various points, but our recommendation is to follow Via Felice Gazzolo to reach the Nervi Harbour.
