LIGURIA is a spectacular land of mountains descending sharply to the sea. Mountains and cliffs that seem to rise directly out of the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the far northern reaches of the Mediterranean . This is the dominant landscape of Liguria, fascinating and breathtaking, which induces an intensity of emotions and sensations in the visitor that will never leave during a tour through this region, so full of historic memories and a dynamic and severe (the mythical Genoese thrift) participation in the modern world. The regional capital is Genoa, one of the main ports of the Mediterranean, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, the great navigator who discovered America. A powerful marine city since the Middle Ages, Genoa preserves the traces of its great history to a remarkable extent. Imposing buildings, sumptuous aristocratic houses and great churches testify to the splendour of the past and integrate perfectly with the fabric of the modern city. In the other provinces of Liguria (Imperia and the other two important port cities of the region, La Spezia and Savona) there are countless natural and artistic attractions. The peninsula of Portofino and the Cinque Terre are exceptional examples of lush and intact Mediterranean landscape; just as Portovenere is a small, exemplary jewel of the Mediterranean coast and Sanremo (where the vastly hugely Festival of the Italian Song is held in the casino every year) is one of most typical and famous seaside towns in Italy. Among the many monuments of great historical-artistic worth, we will limit ourselves to the example of the splendid Benedictine abbey of S. Fruttuoso, in Camogli. The pleasure of discovering the others is yours.
It is presumed that the first Ligurian presence in the territory that would in future become Genoa, was between the end of the VI century b.c. and the III century a.d.
The first to settle there was a very ancient society which was common in all of the region of Liguria and who’s culture disappeared completely under the growing power of the Genoese costal population, around the II century a.d. During this time the Oppidum Genuate was established, and was controlled by the Roman Empire until the III century a.d. through the jurisdiction of the foedus equum and later the municipium.
The natural configuration of the territory and the insistent presence of the libeccio (south-west) wind did not allow the establishment of a typical, well defined pre-roman settlement. Instead Genoa began to form its own urban identity. The organization of the area was fragmented between the area of the oppidum genuate , situated on the hills of Castello (facing the south-east side of the natural port), and Sant’Andrea, just a bit further back, and site of the first necropolis.
It is interesting to note that the territory developed according to roman design: starting from the market place at the centre, the settlement (forum) of S Giorgio was divided using the measure of mille passus (circa 1480 meters, the military distance) and urban territories (civitas e castrum) were separated from rustic ones (suburbium).
This type of division in semicircular concentric areas was the basic plan for future medieval settlements.
In the following centuries Genoa began to take on a more defined appearance. The presence of a cathedral confirms that by the IV century it had become a civitas (civilisation) later acknowledged as a true commerrcial centre.
We know that Genoa was attacked in 641 by the army of the Lombard Rotari who destroyed the walls, and burned and ravaged the city. But Genoa healed quickly; the walls were rebuilt, and commerce was restored, and its autonomy was respected throughout the entire period of the Lombard dominion and the successive Frankish one.
Only after the IX century, after an anonymous period, and through enormous efforts, Genoa was reborn on the remains of a small and unpopulated Lombard settlement. This marked the beginning of a phase of expansion towards the city that can still be admired today.
The return of the population and the tireless rebuilding of houses and churches created an urgent need for fortified walls capable of protecting the civitas. Later, in the X century, the instalment of the bishop Teodolfo in the castrum accampamento romano gave further vitality to the city.
The territories around the city between the valleys of Polcevera (west) and Bisagno (east) seem to have been organised in a circuit of “curies” and “domoculte” which belonged first to the bishop and later to his vassals, and were connected at their peripheries with the great monasteries of San Siro and Santo Stefano.
In 958 King Berengario II assigned a diploma to the city and bestowed the population of Genoa with full juridical freedom, guaranteeing them their land in the form of feudal dominions. This initiated a process which, at the end of the X century, brought to the establishment of the compagna communis.
Heavy Arab presence on the coasts caused the severe reduction of marine activities between the X and XI centuries and lead to a crisis which brought back agriculture to Genoa. As a consequence, disputes for feudal dominion arose between the viscounts (pars publica) and the bishop (in the castrum) who tended to monopolize the power of the citizens. At the same time popular persuasions tied to commercial and maritime activities began to surface.
The necessity for a government and for general peace gave rise to district compagne (military-merchant orders) which made up a compagna communis (in 1099). These were elected every four years and included, besides the bishop, individuals of all ranks.
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During this century the feudal society began to change very fast as the power of noble merchants and militias increased, thanks to their frequent achievements overseas. The city’s population and economy began rapidly growing, calling for a revision of the urban organisation.
In order to meet the new demands the Ripa maris (1133) was built, and later (1155-63). during the threat of the Byzantine empire (il Barbarossa) ,the new walls were erected.
The Ripa was a maritime commercial infrastructure which extended beyond the borders marked during the IX century and marked a new division of the city (1130-34) into two sole great areas, subdivided into seven and later eight district groups: 4 compagne civitas and 3-4 compagne burgi.
As Genoa became more and more privatised and fragmented and overseas ventures took on more significance, the compagna communis (1191) became obsolete. This development opened the new age of the podestà in which power passed from the hands of the collective to the ones of single foreigners.
During the age of the podestà the city became even more fragmented, and became divided between the interests of two factions, the guelfs and the ghibellines. To maintain the order between the two, the podestà nominated two captains to represent the people; one for the rural and one for the village districts.
Riots broke out among the artisans who were supported by noble ghibellines. Guglielmo Boccanegra was elected as first captain of the people, followed by new captains who all had to face a firther division of the city between two major groups of nobles; the Doria-Spinola and the Fieschi-Grimaldi. In spite of the disorders Genoa’s maritime supremacy kept growing.
Commerce increased enormously and the intensity of maritime exchange brought the focus of the city more and more towards the structure of the port. A true urban culture arose with the construction of the Darsena (shipyard) at Prè and the fortification west of the Porta dei Vacca (1312).
During this period a new law system was established to govern the urban affairs of portal and city areas.
XIV Century
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Flourishing economy and institutional weakness made Genoa vulnerable to attack by foreign armies. France and Milan in turn offered the city their protection.
From 1339 the rule of the office of the doge was established with the appointing of doge Simone Boccanegra. The old dominating classes retired to the external lands, and the new party of the “cappellazzi”, made up of members of the great merchant upper-class, was born.
New walls were built in two different periods of time (1320-27 and 1347-1350). The walls were extended to include the area once marked by the roman mille passus, and protected the city from the continuous threats of foreign armies.
In this period the city provinces were once again subdivided into smaller groups called conestagie".
The city continued to thrive and the urban settlement evolved into a close network of fortified family squares with towers, connected by avenues which could easily be blocked and controlled.
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Secolo XV - XV Century
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During this century the city took on the social and urban structure of the “Alberghi Nobiliari”. The Alberghi were socio-political alliances of individuals who gave up their surnames and took on, together with ranks and privileges, the name of one main family and began to control their adjoining lands and properties collectively.
At the beginning of the century an assembly of creditors of the State, point of reference for private business, was founded to substitute the weaker public institutions in assuring collective safety. The assembly took office in the S. Giorgio Palace, built by Simone Boccanegra to be the seat of the government.
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XVI Century
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In 1528, after years of epidemics and famine, Andrea Doria took over Genoa and tried to render the institutional situation more defined by proposing the establishment of a governing class made up of old and new nobility.
Furthermore, Doria made a financial alliance with the Spanish, initiating the first real capitalistic-economic political system, based on loans and exchange. This became so efficient that in 1576 the Alberghi were abolished and access to government offices became dependant on wealth and property.
Because of the economic and financial power of bankers and ship owners in this period, which witnessed the evolution of Genoa from township to Oligarchic Republic, this century became known as “the century of the genoese”
In 1536 the restoration of the fortified walls began to guarantee the possibility of urban expansion and re-organisation.
However, during the whole century, the work done was merely to restore private palaces or town squares and did not resolve public problems such as the condition of the streets (making of the Strada Nuova – the new road; restoration of the Palazzo Ducale and piazza Bianchi).
Evidence of this situation are the numerous pleads sent by the citizens to the Padri del Comune (Fathers of the Township) asking the urban court to take action.
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XVII Century
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In this century the nobles of Genoa tried to unite as a state to guarantee the safety of the people as the city became more and more vulnerable to the attacks of Spain and France.
In order to defend their autonomy even in the case of a failure of the alliance with Spain, new walls were built (1626) employing public funds and private financing by nobles and their subjects.
Another great public work was the Molo Nuovo (New Dock ) built to solve the problem of the libeccio storms once and for all. However, in this period portal traffic had greatly diminished.
After the construction of via Balbi the city seemed to have reached a certain stability, as testified by the technical profiles commissioned by the Padri del Comune in 1656.
In the second half of the century however, Genoa had to face the growth of the lower class due, among other reasons, to the immigration from the surrounding mountain areas.
This event provoked a wave of private initiatives and changed the original appearance of the buildings in the city. Houses began to be stratified vertically and horizontally, and the first houses which can be leased by floor were seen.
The naval attack of Louis XIV In 1684 destroyed entire areas between Banchi and Castello and the whole of the Sant’Andrea hill, and initiated some fragmented work in the area (for example the Ravecca area and the area of the colle).
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XVIII Century
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Salaries began to fall and prices to increase due to the heavy immigration of masses of farmers who were difficult to introduce into the city’s work force.
Once more, however, the response to this emergency favoured the dominating classes and the exterior aspect of the city rather than helping to reorganise the urban setting and improve the organisation of the city.
At the end of this century, in 1797 the Oligarchic Republic fell and the era of the Democratic Republic of Liguria started, following the French model, as defined by Napoleon. |
