The Municipality of Genoa is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Italian Heritage Associations, Healthy Cities and Cities of Art and Culture and of the Covenant of Mayors Movement.
Overlooking the Ligurian Sea, dominating the gulf of the same name, its history is linked to the navy and trade.
Its port is the largest Italian port by extension, the first for the number of shipping lines and container handling with final destination, and the second for the flow of goods after Trieste, and one of the largest in the Mediterranean.
The city has been home to shipyards and steel mills since the 19th century, and its strong financial sector dates back to the Middle Ages.
The Banco di San Giorgio, founded in 1407, was the first bank in the world and has played an important role in the prosperity of the city since the mid-15th century.
The city is also an important international center in education and scientific research, such as the University of Genoa, one of the oldest in the world, the Niccolò Paganini Conservatory, the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) and scientific-technological park, of the Erzelli; in medicine, with excellences such as the Giannina Gaslini Institute and the San Martino Hospital.
The flag of Genoa, or St. George's Cross, consists of a red cross on a white field, and in ancient times it was a symbol of pilgrims who went to the holy places of Christianity and who after 1095, the year of the conquest of Jerusalem by of the Seljuk Turks, moved largely (at first) by a sincere spirit of mission, decided to take the cross and arm themselves to free the land where Jesus was born and lived, in response to the repeated attacks suffered by the Turks, decided - overwhelmed the Arabs - to go to the conquest of the Byzantine Empire.
The symbolism of the "Salvific banner of the true cross" - as Jacopo da Varazze indicated the cross of St. George - in contemporary times determined the nickname of crusaders for armed pilgrimages.
The use of the banner by the Genoese seems to date back to ancient times, when the Byzantine army settled in the city and the banner of the garrison (a red cross on a white field) was brought in homage to the small church of San Giorgio, overlooking the ancient market square, of Roman origin.
Genoa
Address: Via Garibaldi 9
Phone: 010 557111
Site:
http://www.comune.genova.it/Location inserted by
BBCC