Genoa
Genoa 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, counted 855,834 resident persons. ver 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera.
Located 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 (“the proud one”) due to its glorious past and impressive landmarks. Part of the old town of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List (UNESCO) in 2006 as Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli. The city’s rich cultural history in art, musicand cuisine allowed it to become the 2004 European Capital of Culture. It is the birthplace of 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.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 among the oldest in the world and has played an important role in the city’s prosperity since the middle of the 15th century. Today 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.
History[edit]
Genoa is a port city by birth, establishing itself as the merchant capital of the newly established Republic of Genoa in 1005 and maintaining its autonomy until 1797. Genoa was a powerful port and briefly entered in conflict with Venice over the Mediterranean Trade, losing out eventually. Genoa always struggled to rule itself, with many inner conflicts among the nobility weakening the Republic. This inability to rule itself caused Genoa to put themselves twice under French rule, once in 1391 then in 1458. The Black Death in 1348 hit Genoa hard and contributed to its decline. Genoa also owned the island of Corsica but sold it to France in 1768 due to financial struggles. It was 1796 that the Republic of Genoa finally ended, replaced by French ruled Ligurian Republic. Italian unification of 1861 resulted in Genoa becoming the maritime hub of the new Italian state. Genoese establishment of trade routes along the Mediterranean brought wealth and political power to the city.The fleet’s participation in the Crusades allowed Genoa to further establish prosperous trading colonies in the Holy Land. The Genoese trading station of Caffa in Crimea brought the Black Death to Europe, through infected rats on ships fleeing siege in 1346.
Geography
The city of Genoa covers an area of 243 square kilometres (94 sq mi) between the Ligurian Sea and the Apennine Mountains. The city stretches along the coast for about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the neighbourhood of Voltri to Nervi, and for 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the coast to the north along the valleys Polcevera and Bisagno. The territory of Genoa is popularly divided into 5 main zones: the centre, the west, the east, the Polcevera and the Bisagno Valley.
Genoa is adjacent to two popular Ligurian vacation spots: Camogli and Portofino. In the metropolitan area of Genoa lies Aveto Natural Regional Park.
Climate[edit]
Genoa has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) in the Köppen climate classification, since only one summer month has less than 40 millimetres (1.57 in) of rainfall, preventing it from being classified as solely oceanic or Mediterranean, with a special note for the Genoa low.
The average yearly temperature is around 19 °C (66 °F) during the day and 13 °C (55 °F) at night. In the coldest months: December, January and February, the average temperature is 12 °C (54 °F) during the day and 6 °C (43 °F) at night. In the warmest months — July and August — the average temperature is 27.5 °C (82 °F) during the day and 21 °C (70 °F) at night. The daily temperature range is limited, with an average range of about 6 °C (11 °F) between high and low temperatures. Genoa also sees significant moderation from the sea, in stark contrast to areas behind the Ligurian mountains such as Parma, where summers are hotter and winters are quite cold.
Annually, the average 2.9 of nights recorded temperatures of ≤0 °C (32 °F) (mainly in January). The coldest temperature ever recorded was −8 °C (18 °F) on the night of February 2012; the highest temperature ever recorded during the day is 38.5 °C (101 °F) on the August 2015. Average annual number of days with temperatures of ≥30 °C (86 °F) is about 8, average four days in July and August.
Average annual temperature of the sea is 17.5 °C (64 °F), from 13 °C (55 °F) in the period January–March to 25 °C (77 °F) in August. In the period from June to October, the average sea temperature exceeds 19 °C (66 °F).
Genoa is also a windy city, especially during winter when northern winds often bring cool air from the Po Valley (usually accompanied by lower temperatures, high pressure and clear skies). Another typical wind blows from southeast, mostly as a consequence of atlantic disturbances and storms, bringing humid and warmer air from the sea. Snowfall is sporadic, but does occur almost every year, albeit big amounts in the city centre are rare.
Annual average relative humidity is 68%, ranging from 63% in February to 73% in May.
Sunshine hours total above 2,200 per year, from an average 4 hours of sunshine duration per day in winter to average 9 hours in summer. This value is an average between the northern half of Europe and North Africa.
Government
Municipal government
The Municipal Council of Genoa is currently led by a right-wing majority, elected in June 2017. The mayor is Marco Bucci, expression of a right-wing alliance composed by Forza Italia, Lega Nord, Fratelli d’Italia and other minor lists.
Administrative subdivision
The city of Genoa is subdivided into nine municipi (administrative districts), as approved by the Municipal Council in 2007.
Economy[edit]
The Genoa metropolitan area had a GDP amounting to $30.1 billion in 2011, or $33,003 per capita.[32]
San Benigno business district
Ligurian agriculture has increased its specialisation pattern in high-quality products (flowers, wine, olive oil) and has thus managed to maintain the gross value-added per worker at a level much higher than the national average (the difference was about 42% in 1999).[33] The value of flower production represents over 75% of the agriculture sector turnover, followed by animal farming (11.2%) and vegetable growing (6.4%).
Steel, once a major industry during the booming 1950s and 1960s, phased out after the late 1980s crisis, as Italy moved away from the heavy industry to pursue more technologically advanced and less polluting productions. So the Ligurian industry has turned towards a widely diversified range of high-quality and high-tech products (food, shipbuilding (in Sestri Ponente and in metropolitan area — Sestri Levante), electrical engineering and electronics, petrochemicals, aerospace etc.). Nonetheless, the regions still maintains a flourishing shipbuilding sector (yacht construction and maintenance, cruise liner building, military shipyards).[33] In the services sector, the gross value-added per worker in Liguria is 4% above the national average. This is due to the increasing diffusion of modern technologies, particularly in commerce and tourism. A good motorway network (376 km (234 mi) in 2000) makes communications with the border regions relatively easy. The main motorway is located along the coastline, connecting the main ports of Nice (in France), Savona, Genoa and La Spezia. The number of passenger cars per 1000 inhabitants (524 in 2001) is below the national average (584). On average, about 17 million tonnes of cargo are shipped from the main ports of the region and about 57 million tonnes enter the region.[33] The Port of Genoa, with a trade volume of 58.6 million tonnes[34] ranks first in Italy,[35] second in terms of twenty-foot equivalent units after the transshipment port of Gioia Tauro, with a trade volume of over 2 million TEUs.[36] The main destinations for the cargo-passenger traffic are Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands.
Some companies based in Genoa include Ansaldo STS, Ansaldo Energia, Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone, Piaggio Aerospace, Registro Italiano Navale, Banca Carige, SLAM, and Costa Cruises.
Erzelli science technology park[edit]
Buildings in the Erzelli GREAT campus in October 2013
The western area of Genoa hosts the Erzelli GREAT Campus, an under construction science technology park which houses the high-tech corporations Siemens, Ericsson, Esaote, and robotics laboratories of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT).[37] The Erzelli GREAT Campus science park is undergoing a process of enlargement, and in the future will host the new Faculty of Engineering of University of Genoa. The project has been struggling in recent years with enterprises laying off their employees and no real growth.[38][39]
Transport[edit]
Ports
Several cruise and ferry lines serve the passenger terminals in the old port, with a traffic of 3.2 million passengers in 2007.[40] MSC Cruises chose Genoa as one of its main home ports, in competition with the Genoese company Costa Cruises, which moved its home port to Savona. The quays of the passenger terminals extend over an area of 250,000 square metres (2,700,000 square feet), with 5 equipped berths for cruise vessels and 13 for ferries, for an annual capacity of 4 million ferry passengers, 1.5 million cars and 250,000 trucks.[41] The historical maritime station of Ponte dei Mille is today a technologically advanced cruise terminal, with facilities designed after the world’s most modern airports, to ensure fast embarking and disembarking of latest generation ships carrying thousand passengers. A third cruise terminal is currently under construction in the redesigned area of Ponte Parodi, once a quay used for grain traffic.
The Costa Concordia cruise ship, owned by Costa Cruises, was docked at the port before being dismantled
