Genoa ; Ligurian: Zêna [ˈzeːna]; English, historically, and Latin: Genua) is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Genoa, which in 2015 became the Metropolitan City of Genoa, had 855,834 resident persons. Over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera.On the Gulf of Genoa in the Ligurian Sea, Genoa has historically been one of the most important ports on the Mediterranean: it is currently the busiest in Italy and in the Mediterranean Sea and twelfth-busiest in the European Union.Genoa has been nicknamed la Superba due to its glorious past and impressive landmarks, having been the capital of one of the most powerful maritime republics for over seven centuries. The city has hosted massive shipyards and steelworks since the 19th century, and its solid financial sector dates back to the Middle Ages. The Bank of Saint George, founded in 1407, is the oldest known state deposit bank in the world and has played an important role in the city's prosperity since the middle of the 15th century.The historial center, also known as old town, of Genoa is one of the largest and most-densely populated in Europe. Part of it was also inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006 as Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli.
Genoa is also home to the University of Genoa, which has a history going back to the 15th century, when it was known as Genuense Athenaeum.
The city's rich cultural history in art, music and cuisine allowed it to become the 2004 European Capital of Culture. It is the birthplace of Guglielmo Embriaco, Christopher Columbus, Andrea Doria, Niccolò Paganini, Giuseppe Mazzini, Renzo Piano and Grimaldo Canella, founder of the House of Grimaldi, among others.
Genoa, which forms the southern corner of the Milan-Turin-Genoa industrial triangle of Northwest Italy, is one of the country's major economic centers. A number of leading Italian companies are based in the city, including Fincantieri, Selex ES, Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo STS, Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone, Piaggio Aerospace, Mediterranean Shipping Company and Costa Cruises.
The Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti is a tertiary academy of fine arts located in Genoa, Italy. It also houses a museum , which includes works of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, Giuseppe Abbati, Anton Raphael Mengs, Perin del Vaga, Luca Cambiaso, Bernardo Strozzi, Giovanni Battista Paggi, Sinibaldo Scorza, Domenico Fiasella, Luciano Borzone, Serafino De Tivoli, Plinio Nomellini. The academy was founded in 1751.
Palazzo Bianco is one of the main buildings of the center of Genoa, Italy. It is situated at 11, via Garibaldi .
It contains the Gallery of the White Palace, one of the larger city art galleries, and together with those of its neighbors Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Doria Tursi, it forms part of the Strada Nuova Museums, a cluster of museums at that end of the street.
Santi Vittore e Carlo is a Baroque style church on Via Balbi in central Genoa, Italy. Originally belonging to the Discalced Carmelite Order, the church was constructed in the shape of a Latin Cross between 1629 and 1635 from a design by Bartolomeo Bianco. Designs by Eugenio Durazzo were incorporated in 1743 with the construction of a façade.
Inside the church are a number of works of 17th- and 18th-century artists, including the wooden sculptures Madonna of the Carmine and Angels and Saints and paintings by Andrea Carlone , Lorenzo De Ferrari , Orazio De Ferrari , Giovanni Maria delle Piane and Domenico Piola . The main altar is the remnant of a destroyed church of San Domenico.
Domenico Parodi painted the figure of "Virtue", but many of the decorations were overseen by Maurice Dufour in the last decade of the 19th century, 1890–1898.
The Palazzo Doria or Palazzo Andrea e Gio. Batta Spinola is a palace located in Via Garibaldi, in the historical center of Genoa, in Northwestern Italy. It was one of the 163 Palazzi dei Rolli of Genoa, the selected private residences where the notable guests of the Republic of Genoa were hosted during State visits. On 13 luglio del 2006 it was included in the list of 42 palaces which now form the UNESCO World Heritage Site Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli.
The palace is the property of the Doria family and has a residential use. Only the exterior and limited internal areas are open to the public.
Domenico Piola was a Genoese painter of the Baroque period. He was the leading artist in Genoa in the second half of the 17th century, working on ceiling frescoes for many Genoese churches and palaces and canvas paintings for private collectors. His family studio was highly prolific and frequently collaborated with other artists.
