"Genoa the periphery and historical centres"

Since the beginning of the nineties Genoa has hosted many important international events – the 1990 World Cup, the 1992 celebrations in honour of Columbus, the G8 meeting in 2001 – to be finally designated as the “2004 European Capital of Culture”. The capacity to create a synergy between the extraordinary financial talents connected with these events within a complex upgrading strategy of the urban identity has contributed to changing the face of the city. A process of progressive transformation of the city’s main public spaces and the most important vehicles of its urban identity has generated a sort of effect that has surpassed private entrepreneurial initiative. A “Genoa model” now exists to define the combination of strategies (urban, financial, economic and social) that have brought this city, that was on the threshold of a severe industrial crisis, into the limelight as a privileged European city in the space of only twenty years. Today, given urban spaces, to begin with Renzo Piano’s old port area, render Genoa the most international of Italian cities; an international air that up until only a few years ago we sought in the squares of Barcelona and Berlin, and in the streets of London and Paris. At a time like this when many experts are concentrating on analysing the success of this phenomenon, the text that follows intends to look “behind the scenes” of the Genoa Culture Capital of Europe – well beyond Expo, the Aquarium and the treasures contained in the Ducal Palace – and browse around the lesser known corners of its periphery. An interesting and rich picture emerges with certain unexpected items; it is a periphery that takes on significantly different meanings compared with those of other great Italian cities.