Genoa the Superb: why it’s called that and what remains of the maritime republic

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«The Superb» is not just any nickname. It is a title that Genoa has carried with it for almost a thousand years, and which encapsulates in two words the essence of a city that dominated the Mediterranean, challenged empires, accumulated riches and built palaces that still today leave speechless anyone who observes them for the first time. But where does this epithet come from? And above all: what remains of the Superb in the twenty-first century?

This is the story of how a strip of land squeezed between mountains and sea became one of the most formidable powers in European history — and how its legacy is still alive and visible in every corner of the city.

The Origin of the Name: Petrarch and the First Impression

The most celebrated attribution of the title dates back to Francesco Petrarch, who in 1358 visited Genoa and described it as «The Superb» in a letter. The poet was struck by the position of the city — perched on the hills, facing the sea — and by the magnificence of its palaces, which rivaled those of any European capital. But Petrarch invented nothing: the term was already in use, fueled by the reputation that Genoa had built in the preceding centuries as a maritime and commercial power.

The Genoese political system was unique in the European panorama. There was no king, no dominant dynasty. Power was in the hands of a merchant oligarchy — the great families that had made their fortune through maritime trade — which elected a Doge as head of state. The Dorias, the Fieschis, the Grimaldis, the Spinolas: these names still recur today in the streets and palaces of Genoa, witnesses to an era when the city was a financial superpower.

The Bank of San Giorgio, founded in 1407, was in fact the world’s first modern bank. It managed the public debt of the Republic, collected taxes, administered overseas colonies and lent money to sovereigns throughout Europe. Its headquarters, in the Porto Antico, is still visitable and tells a story of financial innovation that predates Wall Street and the City of London by centuries.

The Rivalries: Venice, Pisa and Mastery of the Sea

You cannot tell the story of Genoa’s greatness without speaking of its rivalries. The most famous is with Venice, the other great maritime republic. For centuries, the two cities competed for control of trade routes to the East. The Battle of Meloria in 1284 marked the end of Pisa as a naval power and left Genoa and Venice as the two protagonists of the Mediterranean.

The decisive clash took place at Chioggia in 1380. The war was devastating for both sides, but Venice emerged in a slightly better position. Genoa, despite not being militarily defeated, found itself weakened and began to diversify its interests, moving increasingly toward finance and banking. This transformation — from naval power to financial power — is one of the keys to understanding modern Genoa.

The Genoese did not fight only at sea. Rivalries between the great families produced armed clashes in the heart of the city. The medieval towers that still stand in the historic center were not merely symbols of prestige: they were urban fortresses, built to defend against neighbors as much as against external enemies. The Embriaci tower, still visible in the caruggi, is one of the last testimonies to that turbulent era.

The Palazzi dei Rolli: the Architecture of Power

If the Superb needed material proof of its magnificence, it found it in the Palazzi dei Rolli. In the sixteenth century, Genoese noble families had constructed along the Strade Nuove — today Via Garibaldi, Via Balbi and Via Cairoli — a series of residential palaces of such splendor that they were used as official lodgings for state guests.

The system of «rolli» was an official list of these residences, subdivided into categories based on their size and luxury. When an ambassador or sovereign arrived, the palace that would host them was drawn by lottery. It was an ingenious way to distribute the honor — and the cost — of hospitality among the noble families, preventing any single house from monopolizing diplomatic relations.

In 2006, forty-two of these palaces were declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Bianco and Palazzo Tursi — the three museums of Strada Nuove — house art collections that include works by Van Dyck, Rubens, Caravaggio and Veronese. The fact that these works were in the private collections of Genoese families says everything about the wealth of the Superb.

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Christopher Columbus: Genoa’s most famous son

No account of Genoa would be complete without mentioning its most celebrated figure. Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa in 1451 — a fact disputed by several cities, but one that Genoese documents leave no doubt about. His birthplace, reconstructed, stands just steps away from Porta Soprana, in the historic center.

Columbus did not depart from Genoa on his voyage to the Americas — Spanish sovereigns financed the expedition — but his maritime training was entirely Genoese. He grew up in a city of seafarers, learned navigation in the busiest Mediterranean port, and absorbed that entrepreneurial and adventurous mentality that was the defining trait of Genoese people.

The Galata Museo del Mare, in the Porto Antico, dedicates an entire section to Columbus and Genoese maritime tradition. It is the largest maritime museum in the Mediterranean and tells the story of a city that for centuries lived by and for the sea.

Superba today: what remains

Genoa in the twenty-first century is no longer a superpower. The port is still Italy’s largest and among the Mediterranean’s principal ones, but economic power has shifted elsewhere. Yet, Superba is everywhere. It is in the silent haughtiness of the palaces on Via Garibaldi, in the impossible verticality of the caruggi, in the pride with which Genoese people speak of their city — always with a mix of pride and understatement that is perhaps the most Genoese trait of all.

“As for magnificence, Genoa holds the first place among the cities of Italy”

— Francesco Petrarca, Itinerarium

The most significant transformation of recent decades has been that of Porto Antico, redesigned by Renzo Piano in 1992 for the Columbian celebrations. What was a run-down port area became the city’s living room, with the Aquarium, the Bigo, the Biosphere, and a series of cultural spaces that brought an entire neighborhood back to life. It is an act of urban grandeur in the best sense of the term: the ability to reinvent oneself without denying the past.

Walking through Genoa means crossing layers of overlapping history. Within just a few blocks, you move from a twelfth-century Romanesque church to a Renaissance palace, from a medieval caruggio to a rationalist skyscraper from the 1930s. This stratification is what makes Genoa unique in the Italian landscape: it is not a museum city frozen in time, but a living organism that has absorbed every era without forgetting any.

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