Explore Genoa

The Doge's Palace was the seat of the doges of the Republic of Genoa from the 14th century. After a fire in 1777, Simone Cantoni rebuilt its central block with a neoclassical marble facade on Piazza Matteotti. It is now a cultural centre with art exhibitions, talks and the Grimaldina Tower with its former prison cells.

Genoa Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Lawrence and consecrated in 1118, is the seat of the Archbishop of Genoa. Its Gothic west front of the early 13th century is banded in black and white stone, and the dome is by Galeazzo Alessi. Inside lies a British naval shell that struck the nave in February 1941 and did not explode.

Palazzo Rosso is a red-fronted palace on Via Garibaldi, built in 1675 for the Brignole Sale family. In 1874 the last heir, Maria Brignole Sale, Duchess of Galliera, left it and its collection to the city. Part of the Musei di Strada Nuova, it shows rooms frescoed by Gregorio De Ferrari and Domenico Piola and paintings by Van Dyck, Guercino and Veronese.

The Royal Palace of Genoa on Via Balbi was begun in 1618 for the Balbi family, enlarged by the Durazzo family and sold to the House of Savoy in 1823. Now a state museum, it keeps furnished state rooms such as the Hall of Mirrors and the throne room, with paintings by Van Dyck, Tintoretto and Guercino and sculpture by Filippo Parodi.

Galata Museo del Mare is a maritime museum in the Palazzo Galata on the Darsena, where the galleys of the Republic of Genoa were once built. Opened in 2004, it covers five levels and 31 rooms on seafaring from the 15th century to today, with a full-size galley, Columbus and emigration sections, and the submarine Nazario Sauro moored outside.

The Lighthouse of Genoa, known as La Lanterna, is the working light of the port: a 76-metre masonry tower in two square sections, rebuilt in its present form in 1543. Visitors walk a waterfront path with an open-air museum, see a museum of lighthouse lenses and city views in the old fortress at its foot, and climb to the first terrace.