Genova

One of the things I love about Genova is the fact that mass tourism hasn't decimated her soul.

The Genovesi go about their lives in a way that feels like forever and familiar .  And there is the sacred and the profane out there as you wander.  The exquisite and the run-down stand side by side.  Take a few steps and you're some place else.

There is ancient grandeur and there are the wilder streets.  Those streets that inspire caution when you consider exploring them. 

Genova is as She is.  There is no pretence.  Grandeur and grittiness co-exist.  You can love her ... or not.  She will not bow or preen for you.

I love that.

A little bit of Beautiful

I can imagine I might fall down the stairs often if I lived here.  The ceiling was exquisite.  There were snails involved ... painted snails.

Or I might be so distracted, my camera and I, that we would be perpetually late for dinner.

A huge ‘Grazie!’ to Francesca for showing us around this beautiful palazzo here in Genova.

One of the many things I love about Genoa ...

But perhaps I should begin with the people I meet here in this city I love so well.

Yesterday Hanna and I spent the day with Francesca.  We were putting together a project I have in mind and Francesca had kindly agreed to come along and translate.  She just fitted right in as we wandered and worked our way through the day.  Mille grazie, Francesca.  We had the most excellent time.

And in-between meeting the people we needed to meet, she introduced us to parts of the city we wouldn’t have known about and wouldn’t have dared enter.

Thanks to Francesca, we were able to wander the halls of this grand old house and voila, there was this room, puppet-show in place ... but of course.

There are always these unexpected magical moments here in the ancient city, also called La Superba ... It is also called la Superba - the Superb one - due to its glorious past.

Evening light and the Sundial, Genoa

One the of the things we’ve come to love doing here in Genoa is wandering in the soft light of evening ...

Our path has almost become a habit, as we return to capture the light again and again ... always believing there is a slightly different light yet to be captured.

However one minute taken to change a lens or a full memory card can mean the difference between the rich evening sun-down glow and the flat light after sun-down. 

Different light reveals things unseen a 100 times before ... like this sundial.  I’ve walked this road so many times but last night, the light was just right and the sundial glowed.

I love ...

I loved the way the light slowly revealed the beautiful buildings of Genova.

And the way that I would wake in the mornings... with people calling out and greeting each other in the street where I was living.

I loved the way that I woke not only needing a cappuchino for my breakfast but knowing that I could go find the best cappuccino I have tasted, just a few hundred metres down the road.

I loved the way the focaccia was soaked in just the right amount of oil and salt.

I loved choosing my fresh pasta and sauce and unwrapping the gift-wrapped package when it came time to cook it.

And I loved walking lost in the alleyways of the old city, aperitivo, Italian wine, the chocolates, the architecture, the sea, the bookshops, the language and the Genovese.