The lift and the belvedere
Genoa is a vertical city, built on a narrow strip of land between the sea and the hills, and to move between its levels the Genoese use an extraordinary network of lifts, funiculars and a rack railway, which are part of public transport. The most famous and beloved is the Ascensore Castelletto Levante, an Art Nouveau lift inaugurated in 1909, which from Piazza Portello, in the centre, climbs through a tunnel and a tower to the Spianata Castelletto, a large panoramic terrace on the site of an old fortress, demolished in the nineteenth century. The lift's elegant wrought-iron and glass kiosk at the top is one of the symbols of the city, and the poet Giorgio Caproni dedicated famous verses to it, imagining he would go up to paradise with this lift.
The Belvedere Luigi Montaldo, on the Spianata, offers one of the most beautiful views of Genoa: below, the slate roofs of the medieval centre, the bell towers, domes and towers, the palaces of Via Garibaldi, the old port with the Aquarium and the Lanterna, the old lighthouse symbol of the city, and the sea, with the hills and the fortresses behind. It is particularly beautiful at sunset and in the evening, when the city lights up. The area of Castelletto is an elegant residential district with Art Nouveau villas. From the city centre, other panoramic routes are the Zecca-Righi funicular, which climbs to the hills of the Righi, with the walls and fortresses of Genoa, and the Sant'Anna funicular.
Tip: the lift uses an ordinary bus ticket; go at sunset and then walk down along the stairs and lanes to the centre.
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