Fun things to do in Liguria

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The area is famous for its flowers all over Europe and every year, they decorate the marvellous Grosser Musikvereinsaal of the Musikverein in Wien for New Year Concert. San Remo, tucked in between the Mediterranean Sea and the Maritime Alp is the most important tourist area in Ligurian west coast.
A shore of intense beauty, sandy beaches surrounded by a lush vegetation - among them the exotic palm trees, agaves, maritime pines, olive trees, citrus orchards.
Who measures flowers by the ton? - But it is a fact, western Liguria delivers more than twenty thousands tons of flowers every year.
During the off season the word famous San Remo Music Festival has been running in the Art Nouveau Casino theater. The first festival held in 1951 attracted only three singers. Who would believe that today?

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There are numerous signposted paths in the mountains. Just ask at the local information center for more information and a map. Or see the website of tourism Luguria for addresses of the infocenters. In Arenzano they gave me a nice brochure with different hikes and bike rides through the region.

As the autumn rains in november don't make it the perfect time for hikes I only walked a short route in the mountains behind Arenzano, but i loved it.

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In the 1992, in the occasion of the 500 anniversary of America discovery, Genoa had a huge renovation, especially in the are of the “Porto Antico” .
The architect who redesigned totally the harbour was Renzo Piano who gave the city a wonderful showpiece and probably its new landmark/symbol.
The old port is now made up of restored buildings such as the COTTON STOREHOUSE, the ACQUARIUM, the BIGO tensile structure and the recent BOLLA, a 20-meter diameter crystal sphere.

Renzo Piano was born in Genoa in 1937 into a family of builders; his father, four uncles and a brother all were building contractors. While a student of architecture at the Milan Polytechnic School of Architecture, he regularly visited his father’s building sites where, he says, he gained valuable practical experience.

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The most famous person born in Genoa is Cristoforo Colombo (1451 -1506) or Christopher Columbus if the Italian name doesn’t suggest you anything.
The ruins of the so-called CASA DELLA FAMIGLIA COLOMBO stand close to PORTA SOPRANA, two restored towers which are the only remaining section of the first Genoa’s defensive walls (12th century).
From an architectural point of view, the adjacent cloister of the church of St Andrea, with its double columns surmounted by fine capitals, is much more interesting than the house,.
From an historical point of view, the theories about where he was born are more interesting than his presumed house.
He is assumed to come from Genoa, in Italy, but also Calvi, on the island of Corsica, France, claims to be his birthplace.
However a number of historians claim he could have been born elsewhere, and cite anywhere from Aragon to Galicia or Portugal, the Greek island of Chios and others.
GENOA AND COLUMBUS

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This square, one of the biggest in town, has a (fresh) fountain in the centre and is ringed by some nice Art Nouveau buildings such as the PALAZZO DELLA BORSA (the country’s Stock exchange) and the neoclassical city theatre TEATRO CARLO FELICE.
The statue on horse-back in front of the theatre is the national hero, Giuseppe Garibaldi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Garibaldi). It is dressed in red, the colour which featured his mission on unifying the Italian peninsula (1860) with his followers, the "Thousand Red Shirts.
The PALAZZO DUCALE is also on this square but its best facade dominates the adjacent PIAZZA MATTEOTTI. It was the palace of the city governors, while now it hosts others museums .
The CHURCH OF JESUS (1597), whose facade overlooks the same square, houses some Guido Reni and Rubens’s paintings.

TEATRO CARLO FELICE
http://www.carlofelice.it/index.asp?Lingua=2

PALAZZO DUCALE (http://www.palazzoducale.genova.it/ )
Opening time:
Tue – Sun
9 – 19

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The stunning cathedral (12C) has a magnificent Gothic façade with black and white marbles, typical of Genoese style.
French influence appears in the doorways and the rose window.
The scene carved on the central doorway depicts the martyrdom of St Lawrence. According to the tradition, he was burned or "grilled" to death, hence his association with the gridiron and his patronage of cooks and chefs.

Remarkable are also its twisting columns and the crouching lions in front of the entrance.
In the 16th century, the cathedral was enriched with two bell towers and a dome which crowned the transept crossing.

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The Black-and-white striped facade goes on inside with marble columns in the nave.
If you want to look some dubious relics, the MUSEO DEL TESORO includes the famous Sacro Catino, which is said to be the Holy Grail and a precious plate upon which, according to the legend, Salome received John the Baptist’s head.

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In the 16th century the city of Genoa was involved in an urban development project based on a array of new streets (Strade Nuove) framed by a system of buildings (Palazzi dei Rolli).
The richiest people in town started building their beautiful residences right here to escape from the old part of the city. Their “favourite” architect was Galeazzo Alessi who planned a lot of the most beautiful buildings overlooking Via Garibaldi

A description of this street and about Genoa and its surrounding is contained in “Pictures from Italy” (1846) by Charles Dickens

...When shall I forget the Streets of Palaces: the Strada Nuova and the Strada Balbi! or how the former looked one summer day, when I first saw it underneath the brightest and most intensely blue of summer skies: which its narrow perspective of immense mansions, reduced to a tapering and most precious strip of brightness, looking down upon the heavy shade below! The endless details of these rich Palaces: the walls of some of them, within, alive with masterpieces by Vandyke! The great, heavy, stone balconies, one above another, and tier over tier: with here and there, one larger than the rest, towering high up--a huge marble platform; the doorless vestibules, massively barred lower windows, immense public staircases, thick marble pillars, strong dungeon-like arches, and dreary, dreaming, echoing vaulted chambers: among which the eye wanders again, and again, and again, as every palace is succeeded by another- the terrace gardens between house and house, with green arches of the vine, and groves of orange-trees, and blushing oleander in full bloom, twenty, thirty, forty feet above the street--the painted halls, mouldering, and blotting, and rotting in the damp corners, and still shining out in beautiful colours and voluptuous designs...


http://www.dickens-literature.com/Pictures_From_Italy/4.html