The noble balcony of Genoa
Genoa is a vertical city by geographical necessity. It was born compressed between the sea and the Apennine hills, squeezed into a space that left no alternatives, and over the centuries it learned to build high up when the floor was already occupied. Castelletto is the most elegant demonstration of this urban verticality: an upper-class neighborhood that develops on the first hill above the historic center, reachable by an early twentieth-century public lift that leaves from Piazza Portello in less than two minutes, and which offers one of the most spectacular urban panoramas that can be seen in Italy.
“The view from the Spianata di Castelletto is among the most beautiful in Italy: below you all of Genoa, the port, the open sea”
— Gustave Flaubert, Journey to Italy
Along Via Assarotti and in the surrounding streets there are some historic bars where the Genoese people of Castelletto stop for a morning coffee, an afternoon aperitif and a chat at the end of the day. The atmosphere is that of old-fashioned Italian neighborhood bars: worn wooden counter, a small display case with sweets, a few tables outside when the weather permits. Finding such an authentic place in the center of a major European city is an increasingly precious rarity (€). Some bars also offer a small selection of wines by the glass in the late afternoon: a Ligurian Vermentino or a Dolcetto d’Ovada with tarallini and Taggiasca olives is the ideal aperitif before going up to the Spianata for the sunset.
For lunch or dinner, some trattorias in the streets between Castelletto and Piazza Corvetto – in particular along Via Caffaro and in the side streets – offer classic Genoese cuisine without frills: pansoti with walnut sauce, stockfish served Genoese style, minestrone with pesto, cuttlefish buridda. Fixed price menu of the day during the week, frequented mainly by professionals from the studios and offices in the neighborhood: honest cuisine, generous portions, reasonable prices (€€). In the evening, before or after a stop at the Spianata, a glass of Rossese di Dolceacqua in one of the bars with a terrace overlooking the city is the Genoese way to end the day in style.
How to get to and around Castelletto
The quickest, cheapest and most spectacular access to Castelletto is the Piazza Portello Lift, reachable on foot from the historic center in just five minutes (Piazza Portello is located a few steps from the east end of Via Garibaldi). The lift operates every day continuously from the early hours of the morning until around midnight, every few minutes. The cost is that of the normal AMT ticket (1.70 euros for 90 minutes with the possibility of transfer to other means of transport). There is also a second public lift that goes up to Castelletto starting from the Zecca-Mazzini Metro Station: even more convenient for those coming from Brignole or Principe by metro.
By bus, the AMT lines 40 and 43 reach Castelletto from the city center. The Zecca-Righi funicular — technically a funicular, not a lift — leaves from the Zecca-Mazzini metro station and goes up towards Monte Righi passing above Castelletto: it is the most panoramic way to climb to altitude, even if it does not arrive directly at the Spianata. By car the neighborhood can be reached via the hilly streets, but parking in the residential streets is subject to a parking disc and is almost always scarce: the best strategy is to park in the center and take the lift up.
Where to sleep in Castelletto
Staying in Castelletto means waking up in one of the most elegant and peaceful neighborhoods of Genoa, a five-minute walk from the historic center and yet in a completely different atmosphere. The streets are silent at night – the traffic doesn’t reach up here – the air is noticeably cooler than the lower city especially in summer, and the view from the balcony, if you are high enough, is a panorama of the port and the sea that makes every morning different from the day before.
The apartments in Castelletto are often found on the upper floors of Art Nouveau buildings with ceilings decorated with stucco, windows with solid wood doors and shutters, and that quality of dense silence that only neighborhoods built in the 19th century can provide. It is the ideal base for those who want to visit Genoa without giving up the quiet of the evening, for those traveling for work and need to sleep well, and for those who want to enjoy the beauty of the neighborhood as well as the central location.
Explore the nearby neighborhoods too: if Castelletto has intrigued you, also discover our guides on Centro Storico, Oregina and Lagaccio, Carignano and Foce and Brignole. Each area of Genoa has its own character and its own surprises.
In the Castelletto area we manage elegant apartments ideal for those who want to experience Genoa from a privileged perspective — literally, from above. Discover our residences on genovabb.it and choose your panoramic point over the city. For direct bookings: book online on genovabb.it.
The funicular and elevator system of Genoa
Genoa is the only Italian city – and one of the few in Europe – to still use public elevators and funiculars as an integral part of the daily urban transport system. In addition to the Piazza Portello lift that goes up to Castelletto, there are three other similar systems: the Piazza Zecca Lift, which connects the Zecca-Mazzini metro station with Castelletto and Monte Righi via the funicular; the Corso Magenta Lift, which goes up to the Oregina district; and the Zecca-Righi Funicular, which starts from the same point as the metro and goes up to Monte Righi through a series of intermediate stops in the hilly districts. Using these systems is an experience that tells something profound about the Genoese urban mentality: a city that has never accepted to be dictated by topography and has found creative technical solutions to adapt to an impossible territory.
The most beautiful route is that of the Zecca-Righi funicular on clear days: you climb an almost three hundred meter difference in altitude through increasingly airy and silent neighbourhoods, with the houses thinning out and the gardens widening, until you reach Monte Righi where the view of Genoa and the sea is total and unobstructed. From the arrival station you can continue on foot along the ridge towards the Parco delle Mura and the system of forts: an urban excursion of rare quality.
The Liberty buildings of Castelletto: an architectural itinerary
Castelletto hosts one of the highest concentrations of Art Nouveau architecture in Liguria, a heritage often ignored in favor of the more famous buildings in the historic center but of great interest for those who love late nineteenth-century architecture. The ideal itinerary starts from Via Assarotti – where the building with the octagonal tower is located, which is one of the symbols of the neighborhood – and continues along Via Ruspoli, Salita della Tosse and Via Caffaro. Along these paths you come across portals with floral decorations in painted concrete, wrought iron balconies with drawings of irises and sunflowers, polychrome majolica coverings on the entrances of the richest buildings, and terraces with iron pergolas which are covered with wisteria in spring. It is an architecture that requires attention to be appreciated: the best details are often high up, above the foregrounds, where the gaze of the distracted passerby cannot reach.
Castelletto at night
At night, Castelletto and its Spianata offer a completely different experience than during the day. The lights of the city below form a luminous pattern that perfectly follows the urban topography – denser in the alleys and commercial streets, more rarefied in the residential neighborhoods on the hills – and the port lights up with the spotlights of the ships and the lighthouses of the piers. On windless and moonless summer nights, visibility is extraordinary: you can see the stars above and the bright city below, almost as if you were floating between two firmaments. The Spianata remains open and busy until midnight even during the week, especially in summer: couples, groups of friends, solitary people with a book, tourists who discovered the place thanks to someone come here. It is a democratic and generous place, which offers the same view to everyone.
Via Garibaldi starts from Castelletto: the connection with the centre
There is a geographical detail that many tourists do not notice: Via Garibaldi, the UNESCO street of the Palazzi dei Rolli which is considered one of the most beautiful streets of the Italian Renaissance, does not start from nowhere. Its northern end connects directly with the roads that go up towards Castelletto: in a few minutes on foot you can go from the loggia of Palazzo Tursi with Paganini’s violin to the Spianata overlooking the port, crossing a leap in altitude and atmosphere that is emblematic of vertical Genoa. This physical connection between Castelletto and the historic center is one of the most interesting aspects of the neighborhood: it is not an isolated appendage on the hill but a natural extension of the monumental urban fabric.
Descending from Castelletto towards Via Garibaldi following Via Cairoli and Piazza della Meridiana is one of the most beautiful routes you can take on foot in Genoa: you pass from one architecture to another without interruption, from the Art Nouveau villa of the late nineteenth century to the Renaissance palace of the sixteenth century, from the private garden to the frescoed public courtyard, from the silence of the residential neighborhood to the noise of tourists in front of Palazzo Rosso. It is the architectural synthesis of the history of Genoa in three hundred meters of downhill walking.
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