Porto Antico (Genoa)

The promenade of Porto Antico; in the background the Sopraelevata Aldo Moro and the Palazzo San Giorgio

The Porto Antico is a tourist port in Genoa . As a former industrial port, it was separated from the adjacent old town for a long time and was only restructured and culturally upgraded by the Genoese architect Renzo Piano in 1992, for the Expo on the occasion of the Columbus year . Today the Porto Antico is one of the biggest attractions for tourists, but also for the residents of Genoa.

The main attraction of the port is the largest aquarium in Europe, the Acquario di Genova . The complex was designed in 1992 by Renzo Piano in collaboration with the American architect Peter Chermayeff in the form of a cargo ship. The aquarium has both fresh and salt water basins with dolphins , bull sharks , seals and crocodiles , but also various biospheres with numerous species of hummingbirds .

Other sights at the harbor are the so-called Bigo , a viewing elevator, and the glass ball of the biosphere , which houses a multitude of tropical birds and butterflies in a modeled rainforest. The former cotton warehouses ( Magazzini del cotone ) have been converted into an important conference center and cinema complex and also offer space for a large number of small shops and bars.

The seaworthy Neptune from the Polanski film Pirates in the Old Port of Genoa

Bigo by Renzo Piano

Buildings

• the aquarium
• the exhibition hall Italia
• the Galata Maritime Museum
• the Palazzo San Giorgio (today the seat of the port management)
• the Palazzino Millo with the seat of the Museo Nazionale dell'Antartide Felice Ippolito
• the fairground Porto Antico
• the Bigo by Renzo Piano
• the porta del molo
• the (former) cotton warehouses
• the arena del mare

Web links

Commons : Porto Antico  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• official homepage (Italian / English)

Coordinates: 44 ° 24 ′ 31.7 "  N , 8 ° 55 ′ 33.6"  E