Genoa (Ital. Genova, Fr. Gènes, anciently Genua), a city of Italy, situated on the Mediterranean gulf of the same name, at the foot of the Apennines, is the capital of a province and the most important seaport. By rail it is 801 miles SE. of Paris, 171 NE. of Marseilles, and 93 SSW. of Milan. Pop. of the town (1881) 138,081; of the commune, 179,515; pop. of the commune in 1894, 215,300.
The slopes of the hills behind the city down to the shore are covered with buildings, terraced gardens, and groves of orange and pomegranate trees; while the bleak summits of the loftier ranges rising still farther back are capped with a line of strong forts, batteries, and outworks. The fine harbour, semicircular in shape, with a diameter of rather less than a mile, is protected seawards from the south and south-east winds by two piers. In front of this inner harbour another one has been made by the construction of two outer moles. Besides this, the quays of the inner harbour have been greatly improved, and in 1889 graving-docks and other works were completed. On the north side of the port is a naval harbour and a marine arsenal; and on the east side the warehouses of the former (until 1867) free port. Genoa is the commercial outlet for a wide extent of country, of which the chief exports are rice, wine, olive-oil, silk goods, coral, paper, macaroni, and marble. The imports are principally raw cotton, wheat, sugar, coal, hides, coffee, raw wool, fish, petroleum, iron, machinery, and cotton and woollen textiles. The annual exports of Genoa are valued at nearly £4,000,000, while the imports are returned at more than £15,000,000. About 5800 vessels, of 2,970,000 tons burden, enter annually, and about 5750 of 2,979,000 tons clear, three-fourths of the vessels, with nearly one-half of the tonnage in each class, being Italian. The principal industrial establishments of the city embrace iron-works, cotton and cloth mills, macaroni-works, tanneries, sugar-refineries, and vesta match, filigree, and paper factories. From 70,000 to 100,000 emigrants sail every year from Genoa for South America; in some years the number has been near 200,000.
While strikingly grand as viewed from the sea, and so far worthy of being entitled Genova la Superba, Genoa is in reality built awkwardly on irregular rising ground, and consists of a labyrinth of narrow and intricate lanes, accessible only to foot-passengers, or to the pack-mules by the use of which a large portion of the internal goods traffic is conducted. These thoroughfares, into which the light of day imperfectly penetrates, are lined with tall buildings, some of them of marble and of handsome architecture, but now in many cases transformed into hotels or business establishments. Of the palaces the most famous are the ducal palace formerly inhabited by the doges, now appropriated to the meetings of the senate; and the Doria, presented in 1529 to the great Genoese citizen Andrea Doria, whose residence it was during his presidency of the republic. The palaces Brignole-Sale, Reale,
Durazzo-Pallavicini, Spinola, Balbi-Senarega, and others possess great interest on account of their historical fame and architectural beauty. Many of them contain galleries of paintings; the Brignole-Sale has works by Van Dyck, Rubens, Albrecht Dürer, Paolo Veronese, Guercino, &c. Foremost amongst the churches stands the cathedral of St Lorenzo, a grand old pile in the Italian Gothic style, built in the 12th century and frequently restored. In the church of St Ambrogio (1589) are pictures by Guido Reni and Rubens, and in that of St Stefano an altar-piece by Giulio Romano; the interior of L'Annunziata is splendid with fine marbles and rich gilding. The marble municipal palace, built in the Late Renaissance style, with a magnificent vestibule, courtyard, and galleries, and the palace of the Dogana must also be mentioned. The university (790 students in 1886), originally built in 1623, reorganised in 1812, has a library of 116,000 volumes. Genoa is well supplied with technical schools and institutions for higher education. The great hospital, the asylum for the poor (provision for 2200 persons), the deaf and dumb institution, and the hospital for the insane are amongst the finest institutions of their kind in Italy. There are numerous excellent philanthropic foundations, as the Fieschi, an asylum for female orphans. Furthermore, we must mention the public library, containing 50,000 volumes; the Academy of Fine Arts, founded (1751) by the Doria family; the Carlo Felice Theatre, one of the finest in Italy; and the Verdi Institute of Music.
The Genoese are a shrewd, active, laborious race, and possess all the qualities of a commercial and maritime community. They make skilful and hardy seamen, and are still remarkable for the spirit of enterprise and freedom which so strongly characterised the period of the republic. To Columbus, Genoa's most famous son, there is a fine monument (1862) by Lanzio.
History.—Genoa, anciently the capital of Liguria, is first mentioned as a place of considerable importance in the second Punic war. Having been destroyed by Mago, brother of Hannibal, in 205, it was rebuilt three years later by the Roman prætor Sp. Lucretius. On the dismemberment of the Latin empire Genoa fell successively under the sway of the Lombards, the Franks, and the Germans; but amid all these vicissitudes it preserved, in a singular degree, both privileges and prosperity. At length it succeeded in establishing its independence as a republic. Even thus early commerce was the source of its power. The frequent incursions of the Saracens, by whom Genoa was sacked and pillaged in 936, led the Genoese to form an alliance with Pisa with the object of driving the aggressors from Corsica and Sardinia, their strongholds in the Mediterranean. This being effected (1017–21), the Genoese obtained, by papal arbitration, the grant of Corsica, while Sardinia was assigned to the Pisans, a distribution which sowed the seeds of future discord between the two states. At the close of the 11th century Genoa commanded large land and naval forces, and ranked as a powerful maritime state, governed by annual magistrates named consuls. The Genoese vigorously seconded the Crusades, and in return for their effective co-operation obtained several important maritime possessions and commercial privileges in the Holy Land (1109). The chief events of the three following centuries were the capture of Minorca (1146), Almería (1147), and Tortosa (1148) from the Moors; the wars with Pisa and Venice; and the civil dissensions by which Genoa, in common with all Italy, became distracted by the Guelph and Ghibelline factions. In 1284, at the naval battle at Meloria the Pisan Republic sustained such destructive losses that her maritime influence and public spirit never revived. The wars with Venice originated about 1244 in mutual jealousies respecting the commercial supremacy in the Levant, and continued, with various vicissitudes, till the end of the following century, when the Genoese, after the blockade of Chioggia (1379), were compelled to submit to disadvantageous terms by the peace of Turin (1381).
Co-existent with this troubled external history, civil dissensions exhausted and demoralised the state, and occasioned an infinity of changes in the primitive form of government. In 1217 the consuls were superseded by a magistrate termed podesta, generally chosen from a foreign state, natives of Genoa being declared ineligible. During the next hundred years civil feuds raged inveterately, not alone between the Guelph and Ghibelline factions, but also between the patricians and the plebeians. Various other modifications of the government preceded the election of the first Genoese doge in 1339. This supreme magisterial office, from which all nobles were excluded, continued in force for two centuries, its tenure being for life. But even then matters did not improve much. Finally, in 1396, the citizens, in despair, invoked the protection of the French king, Charles VI., and, after alternating between France and Milan, at last submitted to the rule of the lords of Milan (1464). In 1407 was founded the bank of St George, which eventually became a very powerful association, not only financially but also politically. From the invasion of Milan by Louis XII. in 1499 Genoa remained subject to the French until, in 1528, the genius and resolution of Andrea Doria (q.v.) freed his country from foreign invaders, and restored to her her republican institutions. The Fieschi conspiracy, which had for its object the overthrow of Doria and the destruction of the French party amongst the nobles, was suppressed in 1547. The 17th century is marked by two wars against the Duke of Savoy (1631 and 1672) and the bombardment of the town by Louis XIV. (1684). The last important exploit of the Genoese was the expulsion in 1746 of the Austrians after an occupation of three months. In 1768 Genoa ceded to France the island of Corsica; and when Bonaparte invaded Italy he conferred (1797) on Genoa the name of the Ligurian Republic, which in 1802 was abolished, Genoa becoming the chief town of a department of France. In 1814 Lord Bentinck stormed the forts and captured the city, whereupon he restored the constitution which had existed previous to 1797. In 1815, by a decree of the Congress of Vienna, the state of Genoa was made a province of Piedmont. Following the fortunes of that state, it was finally incorporated in the kingdom of Italy. The opening of the St Gothard railway greatly increased the trade with Germany.
See J. T. Bent, Genoa (1880); Bella Duffy, The Tuscan Republics (1892), V. W. Johnson, Genoa the Superb (1892).