The lift was built in 1929 by a private company, the Società Ligure per Impianto ed Esercizio Ascensori, to connect the main railway station of Genoa with Montegalletto, a name now in disuse that indicated the area at the time subject to a large urban expansion.

At the end of the 1960s the number of users experienced a gradual reduction due to the introduction of the unified tariff in the Genoa public transport which made it less convenient the use of the lift.

AMT decided not to renew the facility in the previous configuration as the need to travel the long pedestrian tunnel would have been unattractive to users.

A preliminary design was created by engineer Michele Montanari of AMT which involved the construction of a funicular to connect to the lifts.

The initial stage started with preparation of detailed design; the project was presented in January 2001 to the Italian Minister of Transports for the necessary permits, which were granted on 14 November of the same year.