The dolphin pool
The largest tank, with an underwater view.
Kent Wang from Barcelona, Spain — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Bbruno — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bbruno — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mister No — CC BY 3.0
**Italy's largest aquarium and one of Europe's biggest — and the most visited attraction in Italy after Rome's sites** — on the old harbour. It opened in **1992** for the **Columbus Expo** marking five hundred years since his voyage, **designed by Renzo Piano** as part of the regeneration of the whole old port. ✅ **It holds some seventy tanks** with **dolphins, sharks, seals, penguins, sea turtles, manatees and coral reefs**, and an Amazon forest. ⚠ **It is enormous**: **allow at least two and a half hours**, **and the route is linear and one-way**. ✅ **It is unquestionably the best thing in Genoa for children.** ⚠ **But it is expensive and very crowded** — advance booking is close to essential at peak.
The largest tank, with an underwater view.
A glass walk among sharks and large fish.
A living tropical section of plants and river animals.
Ponte Spinola, 16128 Genoa, Italy
**A derelict industrial harbour that Renzo Piano turned into the city's front — and it holds most of modern Genoa's attractions.** ✅ **The background**: Genoa's **old harbour** was **a closed, run-down industrial zone** cut off from the city by an **elevated motorway** — **so Genoa had turned its back on its own sea**. ✅ **The transformation**: for the **1992 Columbus Expo** — five hundred years since the voyage — **the Genoese architect Renzo Piano was commissioned** to redesign the whole area **and open it to the city**. ✅ **What is there today**: **the aquarium**, **the Galata maritime museum**, **the «Bigo»** — a rotating panoramic lift Piano designed in the form of a ship's derrick, raising you 40 metres **for a view over the harbour and city** — **the «Biosfera»**, a glass sphere holding a miniature tropical system, **and walkways, restaurants and a marina**. ✅ **The practical value**: **all of it within one walk** — **so a full day is possible with no car and no transport**. ⚠ **The advice**: **combined ticket bundles** (aquarium + Galata + Bigo) **are clearly better value** if you will visit more than one — **do the arithmetic before buying**.
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