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Friday 24 February 2012

TRAVEL: Genova [Part II]


Views in Via Garibaldi
Buildings of splendid grandeur interspersed with narrow alleyways that plunge up and down – all built very close together, there is little room between the mountains and the sea. Wondrous, suspended gardens are accessed from the second floors of huge houses with stuccoed or painted facades; courtyards with majestic staircases; huge, tall windows and, particularly on the corners of the palazzi, light pours in from everywhere, filtered by the tallest, louvered shutters I have ever seen, often painted in pale grey or yellow umber.  French windows lead onto vast terraces from which one could see the port, the sea and the horizon that led to Christopher Columbus’ voyage to America...





Between tall, narrow tenement streets is the Museo di Palazzo Spinola, lived in by a branch of the Spinolas until the 1960’s [above].



Left - Genova was so cold in February...a fountain with icicles extending from the stalactites! 

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