Genoa is a city Superba, as Petrarch described it. lts beauty is apparent to all,
but its deep soul flows from the vicoli, between the caruggi, the network of little steels which nurture
a strange phenomenon of coexistence, both architectural and socio-cultural. During the eighties Genoa
lived through its worst period, wilh unemployment rates of 20%. From that point on it has made a huge
effort to improve, beginning a series of extremely focused and appropriate interventions which have
triggered an intense urban transformation. The idea at the base of the pIanning of lhe Expo 92 is that
of opening up the Porto Antico lo the city, providing it with urban functions for lhe first time in the
history of Genoa. In relation with these new actions in the Port the city has responded with the typical
Genovan attitude of mistrust towards novelty, while possessing the capacity to feel pride in them. The
celebration of the 2001 GS and Genoa being named Capital of Culture in 2004 continued the recovery of
the port, bringing the docks closer to the city. In a parallel manner, the representative and monumental
areas of the historic centre were restored, creating urban routes between them and the previous
operations. Currently, other interventions, both projected and in progress, indicate the city´s
intention of continuing in the conquest of an urban space, bringing it to life, both for tourism and for
the day-to-day life of the city, beginning with the port.
