"In the neighborhoods where the good Lord’s sun does not cast its rays, it already has too many commitments to warm the people from other places."
(Fabrizio de Andrè)
Fabrizio De André’s Genoa is a tapestry of narrow streets, stories, and faces that reveal the city's most authentic and hidden soul. De André, known as "Faber," lived and sang about a working-class Genoa, the one of the "caruggi," where simple and complicated lives, fragile and powerful, intertwine to create a human mosaic of extraordinary intensity.
Walking through the "caruggi" of the Old Town, you can breathe in the atmosphere that inspired many of his songs. The maze of narrow alleys winding towards the sea still retains the charm of bygone days, with historic shops, small bars, and taverns frequented by sailors, prostitutes, poets, and dreamers—the very same people De André sang about with unique tenderness.
Walking through the "caruggi" of the Old Town, you can breathe in the atmosphere that inspired many of his songs. The maze of narrow alleys winding towards the sea still retains the charm of bygone days, with historic shops, small bars, and taverns frequented by sailors, prostitutes, poets, and dreamers—the very same people De André sang about with unique tenderness.
Caruggi
The caruggi of the historic center, like Vico della Rosa or Vico della Maddalena, are narrow and dark alleys where stories of marginalization, resistance, and humanity mix, having influenced many of his songs, such as "Bocca di Rosa" or "La città vecchia".
Via del Campo
Via del Campo, famous thanks to the song of the same name, is one of the symbolic streets of De André’s Genoa. Here you can visit “Via del Campo 29 Rosso”, a small shop that now houses a museum dedicated to the singer-songwriter, with instruments, records, and objects that tell the story of his career and his bond with the city.
Porto Antico
The Porto Antico (Old Port), another central place in De André’s imagination, is the point of arrival and departure for many life stories. The sea, ever-present in the songwriter’s poetry, represents both an escape route and a silent witness to the secrets and confessions of those living by the coast.
Piazza San Matteo
Piazza San Matteo, one of the most characteristic medieval squares, not far from Via del Campo, is surrounded by historic palaces that once belonged to the Doria family, and it represents one of the many hidden corners evoking the noble and decadent Genoa that De André loved to describe.
De André gave a voice to the outcasts and the marginalized, making them the protagonists of his poetry. In his songs, there are prostitutes, thieves, poets, sailors, and ordinary people who narrate the many facets of a city that, like the fishermen he described, has wrinkles carved by the sea and the generous heart of those who know suffering.
Walking through the "caruggi," you'll come into contact with the same Genoa that saw Faber grow and find inspiration: a fascinating and contradictory city, both sweet and bitter, living between the sea and the land, capable of telling humanity’s story with the same intensity that De André did in his unforgettable songs.
Walking through the "caruggi," you'll come into contact with the same Genoa that saw Faber grow and find inspiration: a fascinating and contradictory city, both sweet and bitter, living between the sea and the land, capable of telling humanity’s story with the same intensity that De André did in his unforgettable songs.