Simple Italy

Celebrating Your Inner Italian

Genoa Eats

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By Sharon Sanders

Walter recounted our Day in Genoa from a cultural perspective. Now for the essential part — the food.

As we strolled and soaked up information with our superb guide Filippo Zamparelli [fzampare@fastwebnet.it], we also stopped here and there for sustenance. Walking through the caruggi, narrow medieval streets and alleys, temptations assaulted us.

We stopped for a torta stuffed with artichokes, warm from the oven. Heaven. Tortas are flat two-crusted pies stuffed with varied vegetables and cheeses.

At another shop, we gawked at the array of baccalá (salted cod) and stoccafisso. It may seem curious that preserved cod from north Atlantic waters are still so popular in Liguria and other parts of Italy but that is the legacy of a seafaring country.

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One Day in Genoa

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By Walter Sanders

They Say Genova. We Say Genoa.

Piazza Caricamento fronts the Porto Antico.

My previous experience in Genoa was in the airport in 1999 to attend a Financial Services Congresso (Conference) in nearby Portofino.

I recall the view from the car window upon leaving the airport as uninspiring: a mixed bag of grungy industrial sites, grim housing, busy highways.

So, upon an 8:15 a.m. arrival at Genoa’s Porto Principe railroad station to meet our guide Filippo Zamparelli [fzampare@fastwebnet.it] for a walking tour of the city, I am a blank canvas. 

Filippo (right) captained our little group through the old port of Genoa.

Filippo is a delight. Bookish, fine command of English, a sharp sense of humor, a deep and abiding interest in history (his major field of study at the University of Genova) and a lifelong resident of the city.

We get to know each other informally over a caffé. He loves history of all types … including US history. Turns out that he follows the Chicago Cubs who until 2016, share a lovable losing history akin to the Genoa soccer club, which Filippo also closely follows.

From the get-go of the tour, Filippo emphasizes how the city is changing itself. Long a port of global importance, and a major industrial city of Italy, Genoa found itself falling behind other port and industrial cities. The competition was killing the city and it was unable or unwilling to react.

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