Get involved in an experience discovering the downtown of Genoa and the charm of its historical workshops. Chocolatiers, confectioners' stores, fine pastry shops and cafes, places beloved by famous poets, musicians and intellectuals of the past, as well as stores selling textiles, clothing, tailoring, and groceries, will be the setting for an unmissable journey through time.
Historic workshops help define Genoa's urban identity. Work tools, ancient machinery architectural elements and fine furnishings characterize them as ” small monuments.”.
L’Old St. Anne's Pharmacy, reached by the eponymous funicular has been active since 1650 in the convent of the Discalced Carmelites, the first site in Italy where potato cultivation arrived. The pharmacy features late 18th-century walnut shelves, vaulted ceilings and marble floors.
Across from the Cathedral, the premises of the Giovanni Rivara store partly preserve the 19th-century appearance, displaying fabrics, linens and typical Genoa productions such as the mezzari, large cotton cloths richly decorated on one side by print impression, with brightly colored floral patterns.
A small but quaint place houses, on the St. Catherine slope, a cork factory established back in 1855; it had as customers Joseph Garibaldi and Gilberto Govi.
The Casana tripperia, in the heart of the historic center, has been cooking and selling tripe since 1890, amid wood and marble tables, copper pots, and an old Genoese ronfò (masonry kitchen fueled by wood or coal).
L’Antica Barberia Giacalone, opened in 1908, is now owned by Fai. The interior, amid colored crystals, glass panels and wall sconces, constitutes a highly refined unicum between Art Nouveau and Deco.
Established in 1906, the Alvigini pharmacy boasts Art Nouveau furnishings in cherry briar, a splendid collection of apothecary jars, and valuable scales and mortars.
In De Marini Croce Palace, one of the palaces of the Rolli, has been home to Dallai's antiquarian bookstore since 1939; the original furnishings hold valuable prints, old books, and maps of nautical subjects. The route, between scents and flavors, can continue with Torielli's grocery and colonials, opened in 1930 on San Bernardo Street; the store retains the charm of yesteryear, amid aromas of spices and coffee and products stored in glass bottles with handwritten labels.
On elegant Via Roma, a storefront with an Art Nouveau entrance in carved and sculpted wood provides access to the store founded in 1899 by the Finollo family; custom-made shirts, men's accessories and ties are sold there. Customers included Guglielmo Marconi, the Duke of Windsor and the lawyer Agnelli. The tour can end among the elegant stores of Via XX Settembre, a superb example of Italian eclecticism with its early 20th-century buildings.
For classes in educational trip to Liguria, the guided tour of Genoa's historic center can be enriched by the discovery of historic stores and the possibility of including sampling and tasting of local products.
