TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27
Our first two hours were spent dealing with an unfriendly email from Chloe’s Vancouver agent. What a shit show–anticipating a positive response from Next and getting a rude email instead. Poor Chloe.
But even with all the emotional turmoil, she pulled herself together and tried not to talk about it for the rest of the day.
PALAZZO CITY
En route to Strade Nuove, or the street of UNESCO World Heritage designated historic buildings, we stopped in the Palazzo Reale. Like most of the Palazzos, it is a museum. It would be a day of Palazzos– Red, White, Nuovo, Reale – and Italian Dutch and Spanish paintings from the 16-18th centuries, lots of Jesus, St. Sebastian and Salome, ornate interiors, fabulous architecture, absurdly fanciful chandeliers, gorgeous frescoes and Italian Gardens.
Our experience in the White and Nuovo museum/palazzo was hilarious. A person waits in each small room for visitors to enter. Their sole purpose in the room is to guide the visitors in the right direction through the museum. We happened to be their only visitors. In the Novecento Museum in Milan, we’d encountered this same type of guide, but the guides there had little success keeping us straight. But in these Palazzos, we couldn’t misstep without it being immediately noticed and corrected.
Sunny, clear and mild outside, we were soon feeling too wrangled. We popped into a restaurant where they microwaved some food (yuck) and then we hit the streets.
BELLES ARTES ACADEMY
Genoa is a fantastic city for walking. With our two-day museum pass, we were able to sneak into many Palazzos and the Belle Artes Academy, which housed more 16th through 19th century paintings as well as coins from 300AD, plates and vases from the 18th century and more. Students, scattered throughout the museum, were sitting on the floor or in old worn chairs drawing sculptures or painting. The Belles Arte is near the Piazza de Ferrari, a center for Genoa with a large central fountain, commercial banks, and covered walkways that spiral outward to form the shopping district. Impressive 17th and 18th century buildings rise above the wide stoas.
A PERFECT WALKING CITY
The contrast between the powerful large buildings, wide, light thoroughfares and the narrow, dark, windy passages and streets make the city so enchanting. Stairs lead to secret alcoves and archways, then open into bright piazzas.
From the shopping area, we wandered up a hill where children played outside a church. It was the time of day when Italians bring their children out to open spaces. Childrens’ voices followed us as we entered a simple, large empty church, arching framing huge paintings. Below,the port was busy. A ferris wheel turned. A freeway sliced the city from the port. This configuration reminded Chloe of Seattle. As we stood there, the sun set in strikingly bright pinks and oranges over the water and buildings.
BACK TO PIAZZA DE FERRARI AND OUR SPACIOUS AIRBNB
Small lights from hole-in-the-wall restaurants, tiny bar/cafes, boutique and craftsman shops lit the narrow passages. This felt much like in Venice. We bumped into Lorenzo Church, a massive Florentine-style church. Piazza de Ferrari was dark, brightened by street lights in old lanterns and a fountain of white lights. We stopped in a popup store and bought an inexpensive and very cute light blue wool coat for Chloe.
