News and Guides » Genova through my eyes

With the occasion of having an internship at one of the greatest research facilities in Europe (IIT, Italy), I find myself in the temporary position of being an inhabitant of Genova (Genoa). In this post I will try to describe Genova city as seen through my eyes. From the beginning, I would like to add that I come from a mountain city (Brasov, Romania), so the change is pretty big for me. Genova can be found in the NV of Italy:

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It’s a big city, mainly a sea port. In the center, you can admire some of the local attractions:

- the Aquarium (mostly impressive because of the dolphins, seals, penguins and big sea turtles).

- the architecture of the buildings.

- the light tower.

- that’s it.

Not such a big deal, there aren’t too many sights to see as this is an industrial city. I live in the Medino Potente district, which is full with a lot of colors. People of all races and probably of many nations meet together as Supermakets like LIDL, Castorama or Pam. As much impressed as I am about the cultural mix, as disappointed I am on my conational Rroms inclusion into it. Not trying to generalize this, when passing by then, almost all of them have either begged for some euro, or said some nasty things which obviously I understand but just pretended I didn’t.

So returning to our subject, the industrial part of this city transformed it into a big polluted town. Here you can see huge container deposits, big ships and a lot of places under construction:

The summer smells are strong and not pleasant (with the flowers exception). The weather is sometimes very hot, with temperatures that easily reach 35 C. There are some river channels along the hills. Local fauna (ducks, gooses, some fish and a lot of small lizards) can be found in these areas. When jogging, I spotted a badger.

The only beach I could find is the one at Voltri. I make around 2h from the Institute to Voltri with local transport. Traffic is infernal, Voltri is very far away.

Overall, I wouldn’t live in this city. Too much pollution, heavy smells and traffic flow. But for 3 months, one can discover the Italian lifestyle as seen through Italian eyes.