Construction of the oldest public arcade in Italy began in 1125: Sottoripa was named after Ripa Maris, as the sea once washed right up to the arches of the portico. Expressly intended as a market place, this area was paid for by local shop-owners who, in exchange, were granted permission to add an extra, higher level.
As in the past, along this portico shoppers can purchase all kinds of foods and goods, ranging from fresh fish to exotic fruit, to ship rigging to the latest in telecommunication devices.
What makes Sottoripa a place unto itself are the fry-up eateries, smelly yummy places, where successful professionals, African peddlers, tourists and 50th-generation Genoese all sit together, independently of social status, and eat chick-pea farinata, fish fry-ups, salted cod fritters and panissa.
Above the flight of uninterrupted stone and wood archways are beautiful tall buildings with multi-coloured or striped façades – all visible from the suspended dual-carriageway (locally called the Sopraelevata), as well as from the sea-side walkway in Via Gramsci.