Genova is the capital of the northern Italian region "Liguria". The city, characterised by one of the largest historical centres in Europe, is the core of the Ligurian Riviera.
Genova is stretched between sea and mountains with a comparatively long and narrow coastline from East to West, so the urban environment shows development mainly in the coastal area sloping down towards the sea.
The urban core area is only 28 km2 and has 284,287 inhabitants. The agglomeration area has an extension of 239 km2 with 621,780 inhabitants.
Activities of the tertiary sector, settled in the downtown, are primarily related to the commercial port, one of the most important in the Mediterranean Sea. Heavy industry in reconversion is located in the western part of the city.
Nowadays tourism is the sector where higher improvements occur and the opportunity to be during the year 2004 one of the European Capitals of Culture has given a great impulse in this direction.
Strategic city planning (2004-2010)
The most important action lines of the city’s plan that have been produced in 2003 are the following:
The "old town centre plan": a set of initiatives (for a total cost of 500 millions Euro) have been planned to restructure some of the most ancient parts of the old city before 2006. In particular a pedestrian promenade running from "Brignole Station" to the waterfront of "Darsena", joining the "Lanterna through a seaside promenade.
The water front: the plan foresees the waterfront ‘s enhancement from the "Fiera del mare" to the maritime stations "Ponte dei Mille" and "Ponte Andrea Doria" through a new society asset, the strengthening of cultural activities in this area and news buildings: the Engineering University, a maritime and a music museum.
The harbour development plan: It ratifies for the first time an agreement between the waterfront and the City; the objective is to realise a model like Anversa’s one, a powerful alliance where city and waterfront are the same subject.
Museum and Culture: the most innovative project, aiming to the rehabilitation of cultural and historical tradition, is surely the planning of the Sea and navigation Museum in the suburb of Darsena including the infrastructure of the Commenda San Giovanni di Prè.
Tourism marketing: the main objective in this specific field is to attract tourism with a strong action of marketing, in order to make a tourist promotion towards specific targets such as cultural, familiar and business tourism.
Internationalisation: The city of Genova is an active member of the most important European networks of cities and regions; this position gives it the opportunity to exchange experiences, to coordinate lobbying measures through partnership accessing to European funds. In particular, Genova is member of "Maritime City Network", "Villes et Ports", "Reves" and in the transport field it is very active in POLIS and ACCESS.
Contact
Comune di Genova
Ms Giuseppina Grammatico
e-mail: ggrammatico(at)comune.genova.it
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