History of Genoa
In 773 the Lombard Kingdom was annexed by the Frankish Empire; the first Carolingian count of Genoa was Ademarus, who was given the title praefectus civitatis Genuensis.
For the following several centuries, Genoa was little more than a small centre, slowly building its merchant fleet, which was to become the leading commercial carrier of the Mediterranean Sea.
The town was thoroughly sacked and burned in 934–35 by a Fatimid fleet under Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Tamimi and possibly even abandoned for a few years.
Nominally, the Holy Roman Emperor was sovereign and the Bishop of Genoa was head of state; however, actual power was wielded by a number of consuls annually elected by popular assembly.
The cronista, or chronicler, of the Genoese vicissitudes was Caffaro di Rustico da Caschifellone and the hero and military leader was Guglielmo Embriaco called Testadimaglio meaning "mallet head" (see also Siege of Jerusalem (1099)).
As Venice's relations with the Byzantines were temporarily disrupted by the Fourth Crusade and its aftermath, Genoa was able to improve its position, taking advantage of the opportunity to expand into the Black Sea and Crimea.
Internal feuds between the powerful families, the Grimaldi and Fieschi, the Doria, Spinola and others, caused much disruption, but in general the republic was run much as a business affair.
In 1218–1220 Genoa was served by the Guelph podestà Rambertino Buvalelli, who probably introduced Occitan literature, which was soon to boast such troubadours as Jacme Grils, Lanfranc Cigala and Bonifaci Calvo, to the city.
Some Genoese enjoyed remarkable careers in the service of the Spanish crown: notably the maritime explorers Juan Bautista Pastene and Leon Pancaldo, the general Ambrogio Spinola, the naval captain Giovanni della Croce Bernardotte and Jorge Burgues.
In the period of economic recovery which followed, many aristocratic Genoese families, such as the Balbi, Doria, Grimaldi, Pallavicini and Serra, amassed tremendous fortunes.
The famous Genoese navigator John Cabot, a contemporary of Columbus, discovered northern parts of North America when sailing under the commission of Henry VII of England.
During its rise and its apogee, Genoa founded colonies in many parts of the world from Crimea to North Africa, from Spain to the Americas, leaving valuable architectural works in many locations, such as the forts of Caffa, Balaklava, Sudak and Tabarka, the Galata Tower in Istanbul, the Lighthouse in Constanța, the Towers in Corsica and Sardinia.
The story of Cigalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha or Scipione Cicala, member of the aristocratic Genoese family of Cicala, is fascinating: it is said he was caught by the Ottomans in the Battle of Djerba and then he became Kapudan Pasha or Grand Admiral of the Ottoman fleet, (this adventure story is sung by Fabrizio De André in "Sinàn Capudàn Pascià").
In the late sixteenth century, Luca Cambiaso, known as the founder of the Genoese School of painting, went on to earn the largest payment then recorded (2,000 ducats) for work for Philip II of Spain in the Escorial palace in Madrid.
Genoa was the centre of an important reform movement that put constant pressure on Piedmont to grant the freedom of the press and more liberal laws.
The citizens of the republic would not accept being subjects of an absolute monarchy, wanting to be Italian rather than Piedmontese, though relations with Piedmont improved with the war against Austria.
After the uprising of Genoa, the troops of the general Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora moved against the city, besieged, bombed and sacked it.
In 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi set out from Genoa with over a thousand volunteers to begin the conquest of Southern Italy among them was Nino Bixio.
The strong industrialisation attracted large masses of workers which is why in 1892 the Italian Socialist Party was founded here by Filippo Turati, Andrea Costa, and Anna Kuliscioff.
[13] Between late 1943 and the end of the war, both the RAF and the USAAF carried out several more bombing raids aimed at the port facilities, factories and marshalling yards of Genoa.
[15] The exploits during this period of admiral Luigi Durand de la Penne, especially the Raid on Alexandria, are retold in several films, including The Valiant, The Silent Enemy and Human Torpedoes.
After the Armistice of Cassibile, Genoa and the surrounding mountains became a center of the Italian Resistance; between 1943 and 1945, 1,836 Genoese partisans were killed, and 2,250 anti-fascists were deported from the city to concentration camps in Germany.
The office in Genoa was headed initially by Lelio Vittorio Valobra, and later Massimo Teglio, who received help from local priests and created a regional rescue network.
[18] The German search for Jews in Genoa began on November 2, 1943, when two police agents visited the offices of the Jewish community and forced the custodians to turn over their membership lists and summon members to a synagogue meeting the next morning.
[18] In the post-war years, Genoa played a pivotal role in the Italian economic miracle, as the third corner of the so-called Industrial Triangle, formed with the manufacturing hubs of Milan and Turin.
The city became an important industrial centre, giving rise to manufacturers of diving equipment (Cressi-Sub, Mares, and Techisub SpA), ferries (GNV and Home Lines, and the "OSN-Orizzonti Sistemi Navali"), oil production ("IP-Italiana Petroli"), textiles (SLAM), food services ("Elah Dufour" and "Sogegross"), construction ("FISIA-Italimpianti"), and, for a time, nuclear reactors (NIRA, which closed after the Chernobyl disaster).
In 1970 the Greek student Kostas Georgakis set himself ablaze in Matteotti Square, Genoa, as a protest against the dictatorial regime of Georgios Papadopoulos.
In the so-called Years of Lead, the Red Brigades formed a very active column in Genoa called October 22 Group, which in 1974 kidnapped magistrate Mario Sossi and in 1979 killed worker Guido Rossa and professor Fausto Cuocolo.
In 1980 the Genoese Red Brigades group was eliminated at the hands of a special detachment under the orders of Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa.
In 2013, 11 deaths resulted from the collapse of the control tower of Genoa's port after being hit by the cargo ship Jolly Nero.
