One Morning in Genova: Italy's Most Underrated City
Genova does not want to be understood. It waits. Give it four hours.
Genova does not want to be understood. It waits for you at the corners of its medieval lanes, behind doors that hide five-hundred-year-old frescoes. Give it four hours.
One Morning In · ItalyThe city that refuses
to explain itself
Klainguti at dawn. The caruggi. Farinata from the oven. Trofie al pesto from Maria. Italy's most underrated city, four hours at a time.
Start at Caffè Klainguti in Piazza Soziglia, founded 1828. One of the most beautiful historic cafés in Italy and almost no one knows it. Mirrors, dark wood, almond pastries, the kind of interior that has not changed since Verdi sat here. Cappuccino and focaccia genovese — flat, oil-soaked, dimpled. Eat it dunked in the milk. It makes sense.
A hidden courtyard · Historic centre
Farinata at Antica Sciamadda on Via San Giorgio: chickpea flour cake, baked in copper in a wood-fired oven, eaten standing up on a wooden stool. Then trofie al pesto at Da Maria in Vico Testadoro — paper tablecloths, handwritten menu, no cream version, no international version. Just the real pesto. Under fifteen euros, complete lunch.
Gelato · Genova
“Genova explains nothing. It waits for you to figure it out. Give it four hours and you will not regret it.”Via Espresso
Morning coffee · Genova
The café that Verdi used to come to
Caffè Klainguti in Piazza Soziglia was founded in 1828 by Swiss pastry makers. Giuseppe Verdi had a favourite table. The interior has barely changed: mirrors, dark wood counter, almond pastries in glass cases.
Order a coffee and focaccia genovese. The real version: flat, oil-soaked, deep-dimpled. Crispy outside, soft inside. In Genova they eat it dunked in a caffè latte at breakfast. Try it. It makes complete sense.
The largest medieval
centre in Europe
The caruggi — Genova's medieval lanes — are the largest medieval urban core in Europe after Venice. Streets barely a metre and a half wide. Buildings almost touching overhead. Light filtering down from above as if from the bottom of a well.
Via del Campo is the street Fabrizio De André immortalised in 1967. It is still almost identical. Walk without a map through the Mercato Orientale (covered market in a former convent, 1899) and on to Porta Soprana, the twelfth-century gate with trapdoors for boiling pitch still intact.
Hidden courtyard · Historic centre
Gelato · Genova
Farinata. Pesto.
No shortcuts.
Farinata at Antica Sciamadda on Via San Giorgio: chickpea flour cake from a copper tray, out of the oven every twenty minutes, eaten standing on a wooden stool. It resembles nothing else. Get at least two pieces.
Then trofie al pesto at Da Maria in Vico Testadoro. Paper tablecloths, blackboard menu, enormous portions, honest prices. The pesto is made with a mortar — not a blender — because the heat of blades oxidises the basil. The difference is real.
“Italy has many underrated cities. Genova is at the top of that list, and it is not a question of marketing. It is a question of character.”Via Espresso · Genova
Before you go to Genova
Yes, and probably more than many better-known Italian cities. The historic centre is among the most intact in Europe and it is not yet saturated with mass tourism. Go before that changes.
Four hours is enough for the highlights: Klainguti, the caruggi, farinata and trofie al pesto. A full day lets you add Boccadasse and the Palazzo dei Rolli. Two days and you start to understand the city.
During the day around Via del Campo and the Mercato Orientale, completely safe. Use common sense at night as in any city, but the caruggi are not as intimidating as their reputation suggests.
Among the least expensive. Breakfast at Klainguti under €5. Farinata under €4. A full lunch at Da Maria under €15. You can eat exceptionally well here without spending much.
Farinata at Antica Sciamadda on Via San Giorgio. Chickpea flour cake from a copper tray, out of the oven every twenty minutes, eaten standing. Nothing else in Italy tastes like it.
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