Genoa (Genova in Italian, Zena in Genoese) is a city and a seaport in northern Italy, capital of Liguria and the Main port servicing the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. It has a population of approx. 700,000 inhabitants and is the European Capital of
Culture 2004.
Genoa stretches from east to west over a distance of more than 15 km, but North (Ligurian Apennines abutments) to the south (Mediterranean Sea) in less than 3 km, according to local topography, between mountains and sea. The city developed around the old port,
a former semi-circular bay, which today houses a naval museum and a large public aquarium.