Birthplace of blue jeans, Christopher Columbus and the cross of Saint George, Genoa was one of the world’s greatest trading powers in medieval times. The legacy of that wealth can still be seen in the city gates, fine palazzi and austere churches with lavish interiors. But it’s a city on a human scale – walkable for those with good legs to cope with districts that spread up not just steep hills but sheer cliffs. Over-tourism is not an issue here. For years most visitors would fly in to Genoa airport and head straight for the Cinque Terre, but in recent years the authorities have started using history, culture and, above all, food to tempt people to stop and appreciate the glories of the city called La Superba.

Old port and cathedral

Genoa’s history and fortunes started at its Porto Antico, active since the fifth century BC. Today, following Renzo Piano’s renovations, the waterfront houses the aquarium (with Piano’s Biosphere), several museums, an open-air pool and myriad restaurants and bars. Notice Palazzo San Giorgio, on Piazza Caricamento: built in 1260, it later became a jail (famous prisoner: Marco Polo) and in the early 1400s housed the world’s first bank – Christopher Columbus was an account holder. Turn inland (stopping for a snack of speciality bread from Focaccia e Dintorni at Via di Canneto Il Curto 54-56r if you’re hungry), to Genoa’s pretty white-and-grey-striped cathedral with, in a corner of the nave, an unexploded shell fired by the British navy in 1941. Walk on past the cathedral to 12th-century Porta Soprana gate: just beyond it is the site of Christopher Columbus’s house, reconstructed in the 18th century.

Via Garibaldi

Get an idea of Genoa’s renaissance heyday on Unesco-listed Via Garibaldi. One of the first examples of urban planning, it is lined with palaces of aristocratic families grown rich on trade and finance. Many are now, appropriately, banks; others are museums and art galleries. The earliest and, for me, the most interesting is Palazzo della Meridiana at its western end, with frescoes of the labours of Hercules on its outer walls, along with the sundial that gives it its name. There are regular art exhibitions (€7/€5; the next is the late 19th-century Macchiaioli painters, 14 September-9 December) and monthly guided tours (€15pp) of its opulent interior, with mosaic floors, intricate mouldings and astonishing ceiling frescos by Luca Cambiasi depicting Ulysses’ return to Ithaca.
• palazzodellameridiana.it

Caffè Mangini

Genoan cuisine is known for pesto (see below) and focaccia, its crisp, chewy olive-oil flatbread. Mangini, a 19th-century institution on verdant, oval-shaped Piazza Corvetto, just east of the historic centre, is the place for a locals’ breakfast of focaccia dunked in coffee. With its chessboard floor, mirrors, chandeliers and inlaid wood, it’s one of many bars around the world in which Ernest Hemingway is known to have downed a glass or two: the terrace table left of the door was his spot.
• Piazza Corvetto 3, on Facebook

Make proper pesto genovese

The more well-known pesto becomes, the more it gets detached from its origins. Spend a morning at the home of Enrica Monzani, who left a law career for her real love: food. She was a finalist in the 2016 world pesto championship (see below), and blogs at A Small Kitchen in Genoa. On her sunny balcony, she’ll tell why making pesto in a blender is wrong: it heats and oxidises the delicate basil. Your arm will ache as she has you grinding garlic, pine nuts, coarse salt, basil and a balance of pecorino and parmesan cheeses in a marble mortar to make a silky coating for fresh trofie pasta, which you then enjoy as part of a lunch with wine.
• Pesto lesson €68, book at foodyexperience.com

Il Genovese

Near the covered market, Roberto Panizza, AKA the “Pesto King”, declares his local focus in the name of his restaurant: Il Genovese. It’s a plain whitewashed space, with bentwood chairs and a spiral staircase. The food, too, is simple, but deceptively so. Roberto, who also organises the biennial world pesto championship, sources top-quality oil, cheese and other Ligurian ingredients to make Genoese recipes the best they can be. Don’t miss a classic primo piatto (€9): gnocchi with pesto, chard-stuffed pansoti (pasta parcels) with walnut sauce, or ravioli with tuccu – tomato sauce that gets its vivid flavour from a piece of beef slow-cooked in its caramelly depths. Mains (from €9.50) include tripe, rabbit, and dried cod.
• Via Galatea 35r, ilgenovese.com

Escape to the seaside

On a warm evening, head to the former fishermen’s quarter of Boccadasse (bus 42 from Piazza Dante). For us, summer means sitting on the beach with friends at sunset, with a glass of spritz and a cone of fritto misto (fried seafood) from GE8317, Mario Migone’s fish bar on Via Aurora. Mario is the last active fishermen living in Boccadasse, and takes tourists out for fishing days (€50pp), or night-time anchovy hunts (€80pp). The famous Boca Juniors football club in Buenos Aires was founded by Genoese immigrants and named after Boccadasse. Walk on round the coast to Capo Santa Chiara, and down lots of steps below Via Flavia to Bagni di Santa Chiara, a bar on stilts over the rocky beach. Its tiny beach huts make it popular with families, and there’s sunset beach yoga, but after dark a younger crowd come for music and drinks till midnight.

Take it all in

For expansive views, head to the “Spianata” (“flat place”) in Castelletto, high above the old town, where an L-shaped belvedere offers a panorama of docklands, the lighthouse, rooftops, sea and hills. As you gaze, do like locals and slurp a granita from Sicilian-owned bar Don Paolo on a shady bench or, in the evenings, a glass of something chilled from wine bar Calice. An art nouveau cliff lift runs down to the old town: poet Giorgio Caproni, who died in 1990, wrote in one poem that when he goes to heaven he wants to go in the Castelletto lift.

Historic shopping

The main street in the Centro Storico is Via Luccoli, lined with cool bars and design boutiques plus a few historic gems, including Tripperia La Casana, seemingly unchanged since opening in 1811, which sells tripe plain boiled or in speciality recipes. Romanengo at no 76 has been selling sweets, chocolates, marzipan and candied fruits to sweet-toothed Genovesi since 1780 – and you can still see the separate entrance for nobility on a street behind. Gelato lovers should try Cremeria Buonafede, at no 12, for panera, the classic Genoese coffee semifreddo. On Piazza Soziglia, Klainguti is another fine spot for a caffè and pastry – Giuseppe Verdi would go nowhere else when he was in town. Turn right just past here for my favourite square, tiny Piazza della Vigne, surrounded by restored palazzi and dwarfed by its church. Have a glass of wine at locals’ bar Il Botteghino, then follow the alley behind Palazzo Grillo hotel to even smaller Piazza delle Oche, where a teenage Albert Einstein stayed with his uncle in 1895.

Mercato Orientale

So called because it is in the east of the city, this covered market is where all Genoa (and its mum) traditionally does its food shopping: meat, fish, cheese, fruit and veg. Stalls sell great foodie gifts such as handmade pasta and gnocchi, plus pesto or walnut sauce to go with them. The centre of the market is being converted into a food court, with stalls open till late (from October).

Stay in an 18th-century palace

The newest and, I think, nicest of Genoa’s B&Bs is just uphill from Piazza Corvetto: Genova 46. Opened in spring 2018, it’s a converted apartment in a 1700s palazzo, with big rooms, high ceilings, mosaic floors and intricate plasterwork, offset with eclectic modern art on the white walls. Breakfast includes, of course, freshly delivered focaccia.
• Doubles from €98 B&B, genova46.it

Getting there
Easyjet flies to Genoa from Bristol, Luton and Manchester; Ryanair from Stansted, both from about £45 return.

When to go
With mild winters, and summers that last from April to October, Genoa is a year-round destination. It calls itself the city of festivals, with 40 events over the year. July sees the four-day Goa Boa indie music party, and the Festival Musicale del Mediterraneo (until 30 September, echoart.org) is this year on the theme of EurAfrica, with artists such as Cheb Khaled, Manu Dibango and Salif Keita playing in squares and historic courtyards.

Prices
Small beer €3; coffee €1; three-course dinner with local wine from €25pp.

Elena Bisio is the Genoese born CEO & co-founder of Foodyexperience.com, a website connecting tourists with food and wine experiences all over Italy

• Lanterna di Genova is a proximity-based tourist guide app to Genoa