Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa in 1451 and spent his youth with this family in crowded Borgo Lanaioli, the Wool Trade District of craftsmen and weavers along an alley called Vico Dritto di Ponticello.
The house that visitors now see is an 18th-century reconstruction of Columbus’s home, which was destroyed by French bombs in 1684.
This building stands where Columbus’ family lived, and it is a faithful replica of the ancient original structure, with the workshop on the ground floor and the bedrooms upstairs.
Do not miss the 13th-century cloister Chiostro di Sant’Andrea, right next to Columbus’ House. The cloister was salvaged from an ancient hillside convent dedicated to Saint Andrew, which was knocked down in 1904. A bit further up is the city gate Porta Soprana, also called Porta di Sant’Andrea. Thanks to its hilltop position, this most important among the city gates also used to be the highest, hence its name, as ‘Soprana’ means ‘the highest’.
Lower down, Piazza Dante presents visitors with some 20th-century architectural wonders, such as the beautiful Eclectic-style New Stock Exchange (Palazzo della Nuova Borsa) designed by architect A. Coppedè and the 1930s Rationalist-style skyscrapers. Designed by Architect Piacentitini, the tallest among this group of high-rises was, for a few decades, the tallest building in Italy.