The parks of Genoa are for the most part green areas comprising the gardens of aristocratic villas and some adjoining open land.
The largest park of the town is the system of the Parks of the Forts, while the most famous and renowned are the Parks of Nervi, bordered by the Anita Garibaldi promenade. In the city centre, in addition to the hanging gardens of historic palaces, the Parks of Piazza Corvetto and the Groppallo Park are the most attended (this last one is open to the public only in particular occasions).
The Parks of the Forts
A natural complex formed by the continuity of two parks adjoining the urban Walls and the hill area of the defence forts, nearly encircles the city. It is one of the widest urban natural areas of Italy, encompassing 611.69 hectares.
Name
Location
Characteristics
Urban park of the Walls
Centre-Hills
It is the major Genoa's urban park with its 87.600 m2; it is contained between the historic Walls and the forts that rise on the city hills.
Urban park of Peralto
Centre-Hills
A urban park adjoining the Righi viewpoint and towered by Forte Sperone
The Parks of Nervi
The parks of Nervi are the best known botanic complex of the city, adjoining the Anita Garibaldi promenade, and formed by the joining of the gardens of different historic villas, and include:
Name
Location
Characteristics
Villa Groppallo
East (Nervi)
Country house of the marquis Gaetano Gropallo, today Nervi's Library, surrounded by the 36.215 m2 park.
Villa Serra Saluzzo
East (Nervi)
A 23.415 m2 park that surrounds the 16th-century villa, now home of the Gallery of Modern Arts.
Villa Grimaldi Fassio
East (Nervi)
The park slopes towards the sea, along the promenade named after Anita Garibaldi. The characteristic rose-garden is remarkable. The villa houses the "Raccolte Frugone" Museum.
Villa Luxoro
East (Nervi)
It has a 8.500 m2 park which slopes up to the Capolungo cliff. The 20th-century villa houses the Giannettino Luxoro Museum.
Parks of the city's North and Centre
Name
Location
Characteristics
Piazza Corvetto Parks
Center
A green area formed by two adjoining parks, among which stands the central square. These parks at large are the most attended of the city centre, the so-called "Sunday Park". The Parks of Piazza Corvetto are:
The Acquasola Park: designed in 1821 by the architect Carlo Barabino upon the area of a medieval bastion connected to the 16th-century Walls (2.5 hectares).
Villetta Dinegro: the two hectares park rises in the full city centre: built in the 18th-century upon the San Giovanni bastion (16th-century) is the setting of the Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art, built on the site of the former neoclassic villa of the marquis Gian Carlo Di Negro (19th-century).
Groppallo Park
Center
Together with the Piazza Corvetto Park, this is one of the main parks of the city centre (open to public only in specific occasions).
The Italian garden of Andrea Doria's Palace with the characteristic Neptune Fountain, is divided up into four big flowerbeds and it comprises Mediterranean, Middle-Eastern and American plants and herbs.
In Via Garibaldi, The garden has hanging terraces and a nymphaeum with water games.
Villa Imperiale Scassi
Center
Villa with a 16th-century park in Sampierdarena. It still conserves part of the magnificent gardens for which it was nicknamed "La Bellezza" (The Beauty).
Fiumara Park
Center
It adjoins the big Pedestrian street, in the central district of Sampierdarena.
Villa Croce
Center
A park situated upon the Carignano hill, overlooking the mount ringroad. Inside it is situated the 19th-century villa, donated by Andrea Croce to Genoa Municipality. It houses the Contemporary Art Museum.
Villa Gruber De Mari
Center
An almost 13.500 m2 park in Castelletto district, overlooking the sea ringroad and characterized by the neoclassic villa. It includes the tower of the original building, dating back to the 16th-century.
Castello d'Albertis Park
Center
The park surrounds the 19th-century neogothic castle. From the hills of the Montegalletto 16th-century bastion, overhanging the sea, it is possible to enjoy a complete panorama upon the Gulf of Genoa. The complex accommodates the Museum of the Cultures of the World and it is situated in the Castelletto district.
Villa Saluzzo Bombrini Park
Center
This park of almost an hectare surrounds the 19th-century villa housing Conservatory named after Niccolò Paganini, in the central Albaro district.
Villa Imperiale (Cattaneo Terralba)
Center
A 16th-century style park surrounds the 15th-century villa of the aristocrat Lorenzo Cristoforo Cattaneo, in the San Fruttuoso district. In 1502 it hosted the king Louis XII of France; the complex was then passed to the Salvago family, then to the Imperiale of Sant'Angelo, and finally became property of Genoa Municipality.
Wood of the Minor Friars
Hills
In the wooded hills of low Valbisagno, in San Fruttuoso district, it is near the religious complex of the Madonna del Monte sanctuary.
Prato Casarile
Center
In Northern district of Molassana, the park rises on a lake basin.
Parks of the City's West
Name
Location
Characteristics
Villa Brignole Sale Duchessa di Galliera
City Centre
In the district of Voltri, the 25 hectares park includes the "Palazzo Brignole Sale" (14th-century origins, widened in the 18th and 19th-century) and the Madonna delle Grazie sanctuary (160 metres sea-level) with the Duchess of Galliera family vaults.
Situated in Pegli. It is a 115.000 m2 park which surrounds the 16th-century villa of the banker Centurione, Andrea Doria's father-in-law; it was inhabited by the prince Gian Andrea Doria and by his descendants; it is local property as the great part of the parks and the genoese historic villas.
Pegli. Residential building and historic park, in which have their bases the Museum of Ligurian archeology and the botanical gardens created in 1794 and entitled to Clelia Durazzo Pallavicini. The way in the park, realized (in the 1840s) by Michele Canzio (stage designer of the Teatro Carlo Felice and brother of the patriot Stefano Canzio) for the marquis Ignazio Alessandro Pallavicini, is a sort of theatrical itinerary, articulated into a series of sceneries conceived as a backstage. In spring it is possible to watch the spectacular blossom of the "Viale delle Camelie" (the Camelias' boulevard).
In the Sestri Ponente's park (40.425 m2), which joins the 17th-century villa of the genoese family of the Lomellini, the vegetation is rich of various exotic and Mediterranean species. It is also site for summer theatrical representations.
Urban Park of the valley of Rio San Pietro
Valleys
A urban park situated in a little valley in Cornigliano district, recently opened, on the occasion of the requalification of the district.
