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Porto Antico
The sopraelevata , or elevated highway, shoots along the waterfront above Piazza Caricamento, dividing the city from the ancient port, or Porto Antico ( www.portoantico.it ), long-since finished as a commercial concern but revitalized during the 1990s with the aim of bringing people down to the harbour again. Old warehouses have been converted into exhibition spaces, open stages host waterside performances, and there’s an ice-skating rink, a cinema, a children’s play area and a swimming pool. It’s now a pleasant place to stroll, with cafés and pricey waterside bistros fronting the marina. The visual centrepiece of the development is the Bigo - a curious multi-armed contraption, brainchild of Renzo Piano, intended to recall the harbourside cranes of old. One of the arms hauls a circular elevator up more than sixty metres to give visitors a superb all-round view over the city (daily 11am-1pm & 2-6pm; L6000/¬3.10). South of the Bigo is the old Porta Siberia, with the Molo Vecchio (Old Wharf) just beyond; this was formerly where condemned prisoners would be led, to take the Last Sacrament at the little church of San Marco halfway along, before arriving at the gallous overlooking Piazza Cavour. The main feature of the area is a gigantic former cotton warehouse, now a commercial shopping centre with bars, cinemas, music stores and the Padiglione del Mare e della Navigazione , a small museum tracing the history of Genoa’s relationship with the sea (March-Sept Mon-Fri 10.30am-6pm, Sat & Sun 10.30am-7pm; Oct-Feb Sat & Sun 10.30am-6pm; L9000/¬4.65; joint ticket with Aquarium L25,000/¬12.91).
Just north of the Bigo is the pride and joy of the city, the Acquario di Genova (July & Aug regular 9.30am-11pm; rest of year Mon-Fri 9.30am-7pm, Sat & Sun 9.30am-8pm, Oct-Feb closed Mon; last entry 1hr 30min before closing; L19,000/¬9.81; joint ticket with Padiglione L25,000/¬12.91; www.acquario.ge.it ). This is Europe’s largest aquarium, and houses sea creatures from all the world’s major habitats. They have the world’s largest reconstruction of a Caribbean coral reef, complete with moray eels, turtles and angelfish, and a growing number of species from the coral reefs and forests of Madagascar. Although the whole affair boasts a fashionably ecology-conscious slant and excellent background information (delivered in Italian and English), the larger beasts - including grey sharks, dolphins, seals and an enclosure containing a group of Humboldt penguins - can’t help but seem pathetically imprisoned. It’s best to refrain visiting on the weekend, when it can be a struggle just to glimpse the creatures between the human bodies.
