Adventurous Maite: Trip Italy-Switzerland (13-20 September 2012)

MY WEEK IN ITALY AND SWITZERLAND

SEPTEMBER 2012

After some months studying Italian language in an autodidactic way, I thought that the best way to learn the Italian language is to immerse in the language in a country where Italian is the native language! Italian is spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City and as a second language in Malta, Slovenia and Croatia. And I had the choice to traveling to Italy and Switzerland. In Switzerland, Italian is one of three official languages (Romansh is a national language but not an official one nationwide).

I searched all the flights to Italy with Ryanair and I decided that Genoa was a good destination. I had an Italian cyberfriend from there and it was an opportunity to meet him. And he told me that it was a great idea.

Genoa isn't a tourist town but it's an excellent place for a cultural holiday. It's the capital of Liguria, the sixth largest city in Italy and one of Europe's largest cities on the Mediterranean Sea and the largest seaport in Italy. And I love the coastal cities with interesting things to see :) But Genoa isn't a big city and you can explore it in a few days... That's why I decided to visit Milan and also Il Ticino (Switzerland). In Milan I met my cyberfriend Jairo (from Perú) who was working there long time ago and in Switzerland I saw again my Swiss friend Daniele who I met in Perth (Australia). This trip was a real pleasure, short but very intense. I enjoyed a lot visiting different places and having a great time with friends =D

13 September (Thursday)

At the airport of Manises saying goodbye my dear DANTE.
It was my first trip since Dante was living at home

See you soon baby Dante

Love! I'll miss youuuuuuu

Before getting on the plane

Ryanair aeroplane

I choose always a window seat, I love flying and I love taking pics from the plane

Nice aerial views

Bella città di Genova

Arrival in Genoa
Genoa International Airport Cristoforo Colombo

Some pictures taken from the Genoa Airport bus to the main train station: Principe, located on Piazza Acquaverde. The two major railway stations are: Genova Principe (westward) and Genova Brignole. (eastward)

La stazione di Dinegro, Di Negro underground station

On arrival at the hotel I went straight to the bed. I stayed only two nights here (the first and the last one, 13th and 19 September). Hotel Vittoria was a good value accommodation just 200 metres from Genoa's Piazza Principe Station. Family-run, they offer a friendly and efficient service 24 hours a day. At the Vittoria I was only 10 minutes' walk from Aquarium of Genoa. The old port and historic centre are also close by. The room was quiet and comfortable and the staff went out of their way to make me fill welcome and to help me in any way they could. My friend Cristiano was working when I arrived so I was alone during my first hours but we met at night

My first walk around the city

This is the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato, a Catholic cathedra. Its decoration employed the major baroque studios and artists in Genoa in the 17th century

Historic buildings

Galleria Giuseppe Garibaldi

Walking in the direction of the Porto Antico

Old ship in Porto Antico

Il Galeone Neptune - used in the 1986 Roman Polanski film Pirates, moored in Porto Antico

Boats at the harbor

More pics at the the Porto Antico touristic area. A very beautiful old harbor

The Porto Antico (Old Port) has several attractions for all the family, including the Aquarium, which, along with the UNESCO listing, is Genoa's proudest attraction, and where visitors can admire sharks and dolphins up close

The Palazzo San Giorgio, built in 1260 and, from 1407 until its suppression by Napoleon in 1805, the home of the Bank of St George, one of the greatest private financial houses in European history. Marco Polo was a resident here for a while, when it was being used as a prison -- having returned to Venice from the East, he was captured by the Genoese off the coast of Croatia in 1298. The building and its 19th century frescoes on the front are now the seat of the Port Authority

Stinco di prosciutto = Knuckle of ham. Galeria Romagnola, albana e sangiovese

Sunset

Walking in the evening but now accompanied by Cristiano :)

Discovering the heart of the old city

Cristiano and me

Sidewalk musicians

The Ducal Palace, or Palace of the Doges, in the central Piazza Matteotti

Enjoying a good meal at the end of the day, and in good company!

Selling fruits on the street

Walking through the 12th century commercial arcades, Portici di Sottoripa, along the waterfront. Sottoripa is a large area of the medieval town center of Genoa, which stretches along the square and the loading area of the ancient port from Piazza Cavour, home to the fish market, a way to Ponte Calvi

Art museums and other historical buildings
Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato in piazza della Nunziata

Palazzo Reale ('Royal Palace')

Cristiano invited me to taste an authentic homemade Italian ice cream with a rich and creamy taste, with no colouring agents nor artificial flavourings

A chow chow!!! The quality of the images is poor but it was a nice chow

After dinner we explored the city and took thousands of photos

The seaport

Space Centre in Porto Antico: restaurants, a multiplex cinema and a discotheque

Nightlife in Genoa

The Space Cinema is a multiplex cinema at the Magazzini del Cotone building well served by parking lots, near restaurants, pizzerias and bars. For over twenty years, Porto Antico’s multiplex cinema is the city’s busiest thanks to its strategic location and its varied and up to date programming

Relaxing time in front of the sea

Piazza delle feste. Fiera o mercatino dell' artigianato

From the nineteenth century onwards, the great city port was flanked by large industrial areas. The old town district is one of the largest in Europe

Enjoying the old town

La Casa di Giuseppe Mazzini, sede del Museo del Risorgimento - Istituto Mazzianiano

Mazzini's house, home of The Museum of the Risorgimento - Mazzianiano Institute

Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers that existed until the 19th century. He also helped define the modern European movement for popular democracy in a republican state

Focacceria di Via Lomellini in Via Lomellini 57, an ancient focacceria which Cristiano recommended me because of their quality

Vico dell'Argento

Via Lomellini è Patrimonio dell'Umanità dell'Unesco

Via Lomellini is UNESCO World Heritage Site

Piazza della Nunziata

Telephone box

Back at the hotel, it's midnight

14th September (Friday)

Last photos together

Morning Friday preparing my suitcases to go to Switzerland

A generous breakfast was available from 07:00 until 10:00 at the Vittoria Hotel

The hotel breakfast each day is a spread of pastries, sugar-crusted croissants, and coffee. This is Italy after all. I chose milk with cereals because I don't like coffee... The cereals were the classical Choco Krispies

The big breakfast room

Into the hotel going back to my room

During the morning I decided to take a tour of the city and I visited the Royal Palace Museum (Museo di Palazzo Reale), the major palace in Genoa

The Royal Palace contains much original furniture and decoration. Frescoes inside include the Glory of the Balbi Family by Valerio Castello and Andrea Sghizzi, Spring changing slowly to Winter by Angelo Michele Colonna and Agostino Mitelli, and Jove establishes Justice on the Earth by Giovanni Battista Carlone. It also contains canvases by Bernardo Strozzi, il Grechetto, Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Domenico Fiasella as well as Bassano, Tintoretto, Luca Giordano, Anthony van Dyck, Ferdinand Voet, and Guercino. It contains statuary by Filippo Parodi

Some pictures of this beautiful palace

There was a magnificent parterre at the front of the palace, a mosaic made entirely of smooth white and black pebbles

Front garden of Royal Palace, with fishpond and mosaic parterre

Black and white river pebbles for a royal mosaic

There was an exhibition devoted to the Genovese Giacomo Durazzo.

Count Giacomo Durazzo was an Italian diplomat and man of the theatre. He was born into one of the most important aristocratic families in Genoa in the the eighteenth century

His brother was the famous doge Marcellino Durazzo. In 1749, he became ambassador to the court in Vienna where he was appointed director of the imperial theatres in the city in 1754. He's most famous for working with the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck on reforming Italian opera. Below you can see some photos inside the Museum

The reasons for this tribute to Giacomo Durazzo

Photographs and illustrations used to present the info in an attractive way

Original manuscripts

Durazzo painted by different artists

More biographic information and about the golden age

The palace doesn't boast paintings quite on a par with the Strada Nuova galleries, but it's a fairly interesting glimpse into the regal pomp and grandeur which Italy's future royal family favoured, perhaps also providing some suggestions as to why Italy's monarchy didn't last

Entrance hall of the Royal Palace

Remembering the advice of my friend Cristiano I went to a focacceria to eat one piece of foccacia. The Genovese focaccia is particularly known as a delicacy of the Ligurian...

... And I'm totally agree!

The focaccia low typical traditional Ligurian, crunchy and unforgettable!!!

I later went to a cyber...

And before go back to the hotel I walked around the Porto Antico area... It was my favourite part of the city and I loved to walk along the seaport

Biosfera, la bolla di Renzo Piano

I walked through its narrow streets admiring its beauty

This is the hotel where I stayed

Under the hotel

I bought too many souvenirs again xD

Statue of Christopher Columbus at Piazza Acquaverde. Cristoforo Colombo is the original name of Christopher Columbus. The statue is opposite the station. As Columbus was born in Genova, he is present on many places in the city