The “Castello” (Castle) in the Old Town of Genoa was the center of the primitive nucleus of the city. Right where the ancient Santa Maria di Castello church (12th century) now stands, the first city temple was erected (here the historical insight). The complex hosts the Museum of Santa Maria di Castello.
Palazzo and Torre degli Embriaci are located in the descending part of the hill (check out the route), and Embriaci is the only medieval tower perfectly preserved in the city, as it survived the law decreeing that private towers should be cut in 1196. It was also stronger than domestic fights and, miraculously, than shelling to which Castello area was exposed during World War II. Not far from there, the S.Maria in Passione church was destroyed by shelling and never rebuilt again.
Going up the hill you get to Piazza Sarzano one of the largest squares of the Old Town of Genoa, where there is the Museum of Sant’Agostino and the well with the seventeenth-century kiosk and the bust of Giano two-faced.
