Attractions

Cumulative Tickets--Admission to Genoa's three major palaces and art galleries -- Palazzo Bianco, Palazzo Rosso, and Palazzo Tursi (housing a collection of furniture and tapestries) -- is grouped together in a 7€ ($8.75) cumulative ticket. Another option is the Card Musei, which also includes entrance to the Museo Sant'Agostino, San Lorenzo, the Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola, the Museo di Palazzo Reale, and a handful of other minor museums around town, plus a small discount on admission to the aquarium. It costs 9€ ($11) for 1 day, 15€ ($19) for 3 days.

Historic Squares & Streets

Piazza San Mateo -- This beautiful little square is the domain of the city's most acclaimed family, the seagoing Dorias, who ruled Genoa until the end of the 18th century. The church they built on the piazza in the 12th century, San Matteo, contains the crypt of the Dorias' most illustrious son, Andrea, and the cloisters are lined with centuries-old plaques heralding the family's many accomplishments, which included drawing up Genoa's constitution in 1529. The church is open Monday to Saturday 8am to noon and 4 to 5pm, and Sunday 4 to 5pm. The Doria palaces surround the church in a stunning array of loggias and black-and-white-striped marble facades denoting the homes of honored citizens -- Andrea's at no. 17, Lamda's at no. 15, Branca's at no. 14. To get there, take bus no. 18, 19, 20, 30, 32, 33, 35, 37, 40, 41, 100, 605, 606, or 607.

Via Garibaldi -- Many of Genoa's museums and other sights are clustered on and around this street, one of the most beautiful in Italy, where Genoa's wealthy families built palaces in the 16th and 17th centuries. Aside from the art collections housed in the Galleria di Palazzo Bianco and Galleria di Palazzo Rosso , the street contains a wealth of other treasures. The Palazzo Podesta, at no. 7, hides one of the city's most beautiful fountains in its courtyard, and the Palazzo Tursi, at no. 9, now housing municipal offices, proudly displays artifacts of famous Genoans: letters written by Christopher Columbus and the violin of Nicolo Paganini (which is still played on special occasions). Visitors are allowed free entry to the buildings when the offices are open: Monday through Friday 8:30am to noon and 1 to 4pm. To get there, take bus no. 19, 20, 30, 32, 33, 35, 36, 41, 42, 100, 605, or 606.

Piazza Dante -- Though most of the square is made of 1930s office buildings, one end is bounded by the twin round towers of the reconstructed Porta Soprana, a town gate built in 1155. The main draw, though, is the small house (rebuilt in the 18th century), still standing a bit incongruously in a tidy little park below the gate, said to have belonged to Christopher Columbus's father, who was a weaver and gatekeeper (whether young Christopher lived here is open to debate). Also in the tiny park are the reconstituted 12th-century cloisters of Sant'Andrea, a convent that was demolished nearby.

Vistas & Cruises

The no. 33 bus plies the scenic Circonvallazione a Monte, the corniche that hugs the hills and provides dizzying views over the city and the sea; you can board at Stazione Brignole or Stazione Principe.

From Piazza del Portello (off the eastern end of Via Garibaldi, just before the Galleria Garibaldi tunnel), an elevator carries you up to the Castelletto Belvedere, which offers stunning views and refreshing breezes and provides a handy break during sightseeing in the central city for just .30€ (40¢) each way, daily 6:40am to midnight.

A similar, view-affording climb is the one on the Granarolo funicular, a cog railway that leaves from Piazza del Principe, just behind the railway station of the same name, and ascends 300m (1,000 ft.) to Porto Granarolo, one of the gates in the city's 17th-century walls; there's a parklike belvedere in front (1€/$1.25 each way or you can use a bus ticket; daily every 15 min. 6am-11:45pm).

An elevator lifts visitors to the top of Il Bigo (www.acquariodigenova.it/chi_bigo.asp), the modernistic, mastlike tower that is the new landmark of Genoa, built to commemorate the Columbus quincentennial celebrations in 1992. The observation platform provides an eagle's-eye view of one of Europe's busiest ports for 3.30€ ($4.15) for adults, 2€ ($2.50) for children ages 3 to 12. It's open Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 5pm (Mar-May and Sept open until 6pm; June-Aug until 8pm).

Hour-long harbor cruises on one of the boats in the fleet of Cooperativa Battellieri dei Porto di Genova (tel. 010-265-712; www.battellierigenova.it) provide a closer look at the bustle, along with close-up views of the Lanterna, the 108m-tall (354 ft.) lighthouse (tallest in Europe) built in 1544 at the height of Genoa's maritime might (you can ride to the top Sun afternoons only; visits leave from the Bigo at 2:30pm). Boats embark daily from Stazione Marittima, on the harbor, a short distance south of Stazione Principe, and the trip costs 6€ ($7.50).