GENOA. 
other city in the world is there to be found such a pro- 
fusion of marble and other rich materials, both in pub- 
lic and private edifices; while their situation on terra- 
ces, ascending one above the other, adds an additional 
degree of splendour to their appearance. On entering 
the city, however, the narrowness and darkness .of the 
streets produce a mean effect, but ill corresponding with 
its magnificent exterior, although lined with palaces of 
vast and lofty dimensions, some entirely of marble, 
and all ornamented with marble portals, porticos,; and 
columns. The interior of these mansions is no less 
magnificent. The staircases are of marble, and the 
long suites of spatious saloons opening into each other, 
are adorned with the pera ee and ar 
with valuable paintings, and gi cornices. and pan- 
nels, Of Fa cio remarkable are those of the 
Doria, Durazzo, Balbi, and Serra families. The first of 
these (consecrated by the recollection of the restorer of 
his country’s aR is a beautiful specimen of the 
pure and simple stile of architecture, but in magnitude 
and splendor is far su d by the Durazzo palace, 
which, both in its materials and furniture, is superior 
to the abodes of most of the sovereigns of Europe. 
The public buildings of Genoa are no less splendid than 
the abodes of her citizens ; but the profusion of party- 
eoloured marbles and gilding, which gives an air of 
wealth and grandeur to the palaces, is offensive to the 
eye of taste in churches and temples, where all unneces- 
sary and gaudy ornaments detract from that simplicit 
which should always characterize such edifices. Of this 
description are the cathedral of St Laurence, the church- 
es of AY Annunciation, St Siro, and St Dominic. That 
of Santa Maria diCarignano is in a purer stile, and placed 
ina very commanding situation. It was built about 
the middle of the 16th century, at the expence of Ben-_ 
dinelli Sauli, a noble citizen of Genoa, The approach 
to this church is by a lofty bridge of three arches, about 
90 feet high, across a deep dell, now a street. Genoa 
owes this building also to the munificence of the Sauli 
family. It was begun by the grandson, and finished 
in the years 1725, by the great-great-grandson of the 
pee of the ona di Langnete. ides 
The great hospital or infirmary is a magnificent build- 
ing, which was Rexgerty possessed of ample funds, de- 
dicated to the relief of the sick or infirm of the poorer 
classes ; but these and. the funds of the Albergo dei Po- 
veri, another charitable institution on the same grand 
scale, have been swallowed up by the exactions of the 
French armies, and the edifices remain as monuments 
of the munificence of former times, and serving only, like 
the city itself, to recal to the recollection of the travel- 
ler the days of the commercial greatness, the military 
glory, and the freedom of the republic. 
The population of Genoa in the year 1766, amounted 
to 100,000, and in 1800 to 80,000. The suburbs of 
Bisagno and Polcevera were sup) to contain 20,000, 
and the total population of the Ligurian territory, 
480,596. The a ao military force of the state was 
about 3000 ; in the Spanish succession war, however, the 
contingent of the blic amounted to 10,000. 
Commerce was always the favourite pursuit: of the 
Genoese ; and as it was considered by no means dis- 
graceful for the nobles to become merchants, the bulk 
of the capital of the nation was invested in commercial. 
speculations. 
_ The exports from the Genoese territory consist chief- 
ly of silks, fruits, oils, &c. Tiere are also marble quar- 
ries of considerable value. The manufacture of velvet 
is at present the most extensive branch of Genoese 
trade. Velvets of every sort are made in the neigh- 
bourhood of Genoa, but principally. black velvets; and 
it. was computed that at one time 6000 workmen were 
135 
employed in the manufacture, There is also a consi- 
derable manufacture of a coarse sort of paper, the most 
of which is exported to the Indies. It is to be presu- 
med, that while under the dominion of France, the 
trade of Genoa, like the rest of the empire, must have 
suffered much during the late war ; and the comparative 
poverty to which its late wealthy nobles have been re- 
duced, together with the decay of public credit, and the 
failure of the bank of St George, render it improbable 
that it will ever regain its former state of prosperity. 
From the barren nature of its territory, the articles 
imported into Genoa are very numerous. From France 
she is supplied with wine; from Italy, with corn, cat~ 
tle, fuel, &c.; from Germany and Switzerland, linen ; 
from England, woollen cloths ; from Holland, spiceries; 
from Sweden with wood, iron, and copper ; from Rus- 
sia with furs and hides ; and from Spain and Portugal 
with dressed leather, bullion, and American produce. 
The earliest mention in history of Genoa, is in the 
year 241 B.C. when it is described as one of the prin- 
cipal cities of the Ligurians, at that time defending 
themselves against the encroachments of the Romans, a 
struggle which they maintained for more than 80 years. 
It was then erected by the Romans into a municipal 
city ; and continuing faithful to that republic during 
the Punic wars, was destroyed by Mago, the Cartha- 
genian general, in the year 205 B. C. It was, however, 
soon rebuilt, and, from the advantages of its situation, 
and the enterprizing spirit of its inhabitants, appears to 
have early acquired such a degree of importance, as to 
be stiled by Strabo, Emporium totius Liguria. 
After the ruin of the Roman empire, Genoa, separa~ 
ted by its mountains from the rest of the world, long 
maintained its connection with the Grecian emperors ; 
and although for a short period successively et the 
power of the Lombards, Franks, and Saracens, soon ex- 
pelled its invaders, and before the end of the 10th cen- 
tury, had established a free constitution resembling in its 
form the Roman republic. ‘The government, however, as- 
in the other Italian cities, was far from being fixed or sta- 
ble ; and for a long series of ages, the history of Genoa 
presents little else athome but a continuation of struggles 
between the nobility and the people. Frequently too, the 
latter, worn out by the vexatious oppressions of the no- 
bles, threw themselves under the protection of some fo« 
reign prince, choosing rather the impartial dominion of a 
distant sovereign, than the name of liberty and real subjec- 
tion toa haughty and tyrannical oligarchy. Fora more 
prvcobe account of these revolutions, see the article 
TALY. But tedious and uninteresting as the relation 
of the struggles of the Genoese factions may be, the 
history of its external transactions gives us a high idea. 
of the en izing greatness of the republic. In the 
year 1050, the Genoese forces, united with those of Pisa, 
achieved the conquest of the island of Sardinia, at that 
time under the possession of the Moors. 
In 1100, in conjunction with Venice and Pisa, the 
sent to the assistance of the crusaders a fleet of 28 gal. 
leys, and six vessels, and a body of troops command. 
ed by one of their consuls, who, after a short siege; 
took by assault the city of Cesarea. The republics of 
Pisa and Genoa were soon after engaged, by a mutual 
jealousy, in a bloody war, which lasted, with various 
success, for many years, till put an end to in the year 
1162, by the interposition of the Emperor Frederick 
Barbarossa. But this peace was of no long duration ; 
and in two years the war was again renewed from a 
quarrel] between. the vassals of the two republics in 
Sardinia, In 1190, however, we find them both arm. 
ing a fleet to assist the Emperor Henry VI. in an un- 
successful enterprise to recover the crown of Sicily. 
In the succeeding century, a much wider field was 
Genoa. 
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