The Port of Genoa has always been a crossroads of men, means and food, and it was also 2,500 years ago when the first merchants arrived from the eastern Mediterranean, who chose it as a landing place to transport their goods to central Europe. And precisely 2,500 years ago, behind the harbour on the hill of Castello, there was a small village: it was the embryo of the city, located close to the places where the heart and soul of medieval Genoa was formed, the starting point of the expansion of the Republic of the Superb.
Today, the heart and soul of the Middle Ages can be found in the “Tour 3 – The Medieval City”, laid out by the Genoa City Council, where some of the city’s wonders of the period are on show. But there you will also find the heart and soul of modo 21, because our historical venue is located right in the middle of this tour: just walk a few steps from piazza Cavour and after a few minutes you will encounter some real treasures of medieval art.
Starting from Piazza Cavour 21r (who knows why…) and walking about a hundred metres, you cannot fail to admire a fantastic triptych of churches: San Giorgio, San Torpete and Santi Cosma e Damiano. The first two face each other in the small, charming Piazza San Giorgio, which today has a Baroque appearance, but which in the 11th century was the site of the city’s first market and since then has served as the churchyard for the two churches.
A few steps away is the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, with its perfectly preserved 12th-century façade and charming interior. And just behind it, separated by an alley and a flight of steps, stands the Embriaci Tower, the tallest in the city and the only one to have survived an order of 1296, which imposed a reduction in the height of all the city’s towers to pay tribute to the figure of William Embriacus, conqueror of Jerusalem in 1099.
A couple of steps uphill will take you to the church of Santa Maria di Castello, one of the oldest Christian places of worship in Genoa and one of the most intact local Romanesque architectures.
Descending the hill on the opposite side and pointing again to the sea you will come across the Mura della Marina and Mura delle Grazie, which until a century ago marked the boundary between the city and the big blue. Erected in the 12th century, they were rebuilt several times until they were finally restored in 1630. Today you can walk along the old walkway and, proceeding straight ahead, you will end Tour 3 by returning to the starting point, i.e. in front of… Cavour 21 to taste the Pesto World Champion 2014 edition. Better than this!
