String City is for anyone visiting the Italian city of Genoa - without the usual travel guide stuff. A description of true Mediterranean atmospheres and captions of everyday life in Italy, for those who prefer to find their own way around - with the occasional nudge in the right direction.

19/09/2013

A Tour of the Forts Surrounding Genoa - Part 1


Sometimes, with the help of the weather, the holiday vibe doesn't wait for you to be on holiday to try and take a hold of you. Fortunately, the weekend is always just around the corner. One of my absolute favorite one-day escapes is the tour of the forts surrounding Genoa in the hills behind the city.

One such area is the Parco delle Mura, a nature reserve on the upper edge of the city. From the city center it only takes a few minutes to get there. By car it takes about 5 minutes, up winding, sometimes incredibly steep roads, and once you arrive there is always plenty of parking. On foot, you can climb the hill in about 20 minutes, maybe half an hour if you wanted to take it easy.

The best way to get there, especially if you are exploring the city for the first time, is on the Zecca-Righi Funicolare. Now Largo Zecca, the lowest station on the line, is easy to miss because it is tucked away in a corner. The best way to make sure you find it is if you go towards Largo Zecca from Piazza della Nunziata. At the traffic light, on your left hand side, behind another little road going up the hill and one disappearing around the corner next to it. In that hidden corner you will see the little sign for the station.



If you are claustrophobic, this is perhaps not the best alternative, but it is really worth the ride. These tiny two carriages take you up the hill through tunnels and in between houses and gardens. Some of the stations are on such a slope that the platforms are entirely made up of stairs. It takes about 10 minutes to reach the top, you get an "inside" view of parts of the city you would not see otherwise, and the whole thing only costs you 1.50 euro for a standard AMT bus ticket.



When you reach the Righi station, at the top of the hill, don't leave the station without stopping for a second on the terraces on the roof of the station to look out over the city and see how far you've come.



As you exit the station, you will see two roads on your left hand side. One going uphill and the other going down. Take the one going down, and immediately turn on to the path leading through the trees next to the tennis court. This path will lead you all the way to the beginning of your actual walk, without having to walk in the middle of the road and dodge the cars.



This path is quite interesting itself, it takes you first past the local archery club, and later, after keeping to the right where you come to a fork in the road (seen in the picture above), past another club that trains rescue dogs. Finally, while skirting the old city walls, on the outside, you will spot the first of the forts you will visit during the day. This one is called Forte Sperone, and as you come to the end of this first path, you will keep Forte Sperone to your left and continue up the road to your right.



This road soon turns to a dusty mountain path, which follows a large pipeline. It's ancestor, an ancient aqueduct, runs along a similar route, but further down in the valley. You will find plenty of people out here, most running or riding their mountain bike, a few walking their dogs. Along this road, you come to a fork: on the left you will find a trattoria, and a route that goes more directly up to the forts surrounding the city. I like to take the other route on the right. It is a bit longer, and later on it is even a bit tougher, but I think it gives you a better idea of the countryside in Liguria (in case you're wondering, that's the name of this region of Italy).



An hour after leaving Largo Zecca, if you look back towards the city this is what you'll see:



Not long after that, as the number of trees surrounding the path gradually increases, you come across something really surprising: the ancestor of the modern ice machine. The system worked like this: you dig a deep hole in the ground out in a cool, shady area of the mountain, pack compressed snow inside it during the colder months of the year (which then turned to ice), insulate the whole lot with straw and dry leaves, and sell it down in the city, carrying it down block by block on the back of a mule.

The neviera, as it is called in Italian, originally looked something like this:



What you see today, of course, makes you feel a bit more like Indiana Jones. There is no covering of any kind and the stone walls of the inside of the hole are just recognizable through the creepers and other plants growing in and around them. But if you look closely you can even see the small stairway that goes down one side to the bottom of the pit.



Back on the path, after about ten minutes you come to the end of the first part of the walk, just above a place called Trensasco. You will notice an actual road where you thought you were quite isolated from civilization, and even a small bar just a little way ahead.



(To be continued...)

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