A small stone building just inside the medieval Porta Soprana gate in the old town of Genoa, the so-called House of Christopher Columbus is traditionally identified as the childhood home of the famous explorer. The modest two-storey building, surrounded by the ruins of medieval walls and cloisters, sits on the spot where the family of the navigator is documented to have lived in the late fifteenth century. Historical records show that Columbus father, the wool weaver Domenico Colombo, rented a house at this address from around 1455 to 1471. The young Christopher, born in Genoa in 1451, spent his early years here before moving with the family to Savona and then on to Portugal, where his career as a navigator began in earnest. The house visible today is in fact a later reconstruction. The original medieval building suffered damage during the French bombardment of Genoa in 1684 and was rebuilt in the eighteenth century, reusing some of the original materials. The two-storey form, with its modest stone facade and small windows, retains the basic character of a Genoese merchant tradesman dwelling of the period. The interior, which can be visited on a modest ticket, has been arranged as a small museum showing the history of the building and of the Columbus family in Genoa. Displays include early modern editions of works about the voyages, prints, maps and a small collection of documents linking the navigator to his native city. The site sits within a cluster of medieval landmarks. The Porta Soprana itself, with its tall twin towers, is one of the best preserved medieval city gates in northern Italy, dating from the 1150s. The cloister of the convent of Sant Andrea, a fine twelfth-century Romanesque structure relocated to the area in the 1920s, stands beside the house. For visitors interested in the early modern age of exploration, the house offers a tangible link to the navigator whose voyages opened the Americas to European trade. Even those skeptical of the precise identification will find the wider site, with its city gate, cloisters and small museum, a rewarding hour or so of historical wandering in the medieval heart of Genoa.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Via di Porta Soprana, Genoa, Italy