Via Garibaldi: Street of the Rich
Via Garibaldi: Street of the Rich features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Genoa. Give it roughly ~120 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type historic
- Suggested visit ~120 min
- Genoa Genoa guide
About Via Garibaldi: Street of the Rich
A UNESCO World Heritage street, the finest Renaissance merchant palaces in the world, built by Genoa's greatest merchant families in the 16th century, now housing major art museums.
Via Garibaldi, long known as the Strada Nuova, the New Street, is one of the most remarkable streets in Europe and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006, forming part of the larger "Rolli and Via Garibaldi" inscription that recognises Genoa's extraordinary legacy of aristocratic palaces. The street was planned in 1550 and built between 1558 and 1583 at the initiative of the Genoese nobility as a showcase of their wealth and power. Each palace was built by a different noble family, the Cataldi, the Lomellini, the Cambiaso, the Rosso, the Bianco, and each competed to outdo its neighbours in grandeur and artistic lavishness. The result is an unbroken sequence of magnificent Renaissance and Mannerist palaces, each one different in detail but all sharing the same general scale and ambition. Today the most important of these palaces house major museums: the Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco contain the Musei di Strada Nuova, with outstanding collections of Flemish, Dutch, and Italian paintings; while the Palazzo Doria-Tursi serves as the city's town hall and displays, among other things, Niccolò Paganini's famous violin, the Cannone.
Did you know? Niccolò Paganini's violin, the Cannone, is still played once a year by the winner of the Premio Paganini competition, a sound that connects directly to performances from 200 years ago.
How long is a visit to Via Garibaldi: Street of the Rich?
Set aside roughly ~120 min for Via Garibaldi: Street of the Rich. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is Via Garibaldi: Street of the Rich worth your time?
Via Garibaldi: Street of the Rich is among the 18 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Genoa, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Genoa
Hear the story of Via Garibaldi: Street of the Rich
Preview the Genoa tour free in the Gingerguide app.