San Vincenzo

Description of the district

Toponym

The neighborhood takes its name from the church of the same name, now deconsecrated, named after St. Vincent of Saragossa. Until the construction of the “New Walls” in the 17th century, it was a suburb outside the city's defensive walls called “Borgo di Bisagno,” because it was located a short distance from the stream of the same name.

Territory

Historically, the sestiere of San Vincenzo was created after the construction of the seventeenth-century walls and included the entire area to the east between the sixteenth-century city walls and the Mura Nuove. It was thus a vast territory that in addition to the plain on the right bank of the Bisagno River also included the hilly area that today forms the Castelletto district.

With the constitution of the districts, the area of Castelletto was detached and the urban core of the San Vincenzo district merged with that of Portoria, another historic city district, creating the "Portoria" district, subdivided into the "urban units" of "San Vincenzo" and "Carignano," and today included in the Municipio I Centro Est.

The San Vincenzo area proper includes the area on the right bank of the Bisagno River once bounded by the two city walls: to the west the sixteenth-century one, in the section between the Acquasola gate (present-day Piazza Corvetto) and the Cappuccine walls, which still delimits the neighborhood towards Portoria and Carignano; to the east the "New Walls," facing the Bisagno with the large embankment of the "Fronti Basse," in which the Pila and Romana gates opened, on the roads heading east. Today, with the disappearance of the “Fronti Basse,” demolished in the late 19th century, the axis of Via Fiume and Via Brigata Liguria demarcates the area of San Vincenzo from that of the Foce.

To the north, the boundary with the Castelletto neighborhood consists of a short stretch of Via Assarotti and the axis of Via Peschiera and Via F. Romani, up to the Zerbino walls, which delimit the neighborhood to the east from that of San Fruttuoso.

Demography

The “urban unit” of San Vincenzo, which as mentioned also includes the former sestiere of Portoria, has a population of 5,323 (as of December 31, 2010).

Available historical data concern the former Portoria district as a whole, with the two urban units of San Vincenzo and Carignano. The demographic history of the former district is affected by the urbanistic vicissitudes of the area. The population, 35,877 at the first census in 1861, rose to 40,260 in 1901, a figure representing the “historical maximum.” Since then, with the transformation of these former working-class neighborhoods into an area designated for business centers and tertiary activities, a conspicuous population decline began. The population, still 35,007 in 1936, declined to 20,021 in 1961, down to the current 12,331, of which 5,323, as already mentioned, are in the San Vincenzo urban unit alone.

History

Origins

The “borgo di Bisagno” originally consisted of the houses lined up along the medieval street that exited the city heading east, first through the Porta Soprana and then, with the construction of the fourteenth-century walls, through the Porta degli Archi. This road, frequented from ancient times, as evidenced by several archaeological findings, crossed the Bisagno River at the bridge of S. Agata, near the “borgo degli Incrociati,” which at one time, before the construction of the New Walls, was the natural continuation of the “borgo di Bisagno.””... by the present Via s. Vincenzo one went to the hospice and hospital, which the ancient Crutched Friars maintained near the bridge of s. Agata: here one crossed the river, entered the Strada Romana in the villa of Terralba (s. Fruttuoso), and ascended to s. Martino d'Albaro, following by the Riviera di Levante."In the 11th century the area of the district was an agricultural zone of ecclesiastical property, and a chapel dedicated to St. Vincent the Martyr was built there in 1059, which was transformed into an oratory a century later. In its place in the 17th century a church was built, which was suppressed in 1813 and today houses the Officers' Club.

This is how Giustiniani, a bishop and historian, described the area in his “Annals” in the early sixteenth century:

“At the gate of the arches is continued the suburb of Bisagno, distinguished into upper and lower: the lower contains fifty-seven houses, which are all of the parish of S. Stefano, and for the most part of gardeners: and there is in this suburb the monastery of S. Maria della Pace, inhabited by the Observant friars of S. Francis; there is also the meadow named della Lana. And in the borough above there are two hundred and four houses, of which there are sixty belonging to citizens, the remainder are of artisans. And in the beginning of the suburb, where the street divides, is a small oratory named ad Sanctos peregrinos, which was the first lodging of SS. Nazario and Celso, when very soon after the passion of the Savior they came to preach the faith of Christ to the city of Genoa. And then there is the parish church of St. Vincent, and, proceeding farther on, the monastery of Santo Spirito, which are Conventual nuns; and after that the monastery of the Cruciferous. And, however, proceeding northward, almost at the end of the suburb in an eminent place, is a large and very famous monastery of the monks of the observance of St. Augustine, entitled to St. Mary of Consolation. And all the inhabitants of this hamlet, so departed, in many civil things are reputed and treated as their own citizens.”

The Mura Nuove and the sestiere of S. Vincenzo

Between 1626 and 1632, with the construction of the “Mura Nuove” (New Walls), part of the area was incorporated within the defensive walls; The “borgo di Bisagno,” renamed after the parish church, along with S. Teodoro (another city area incorporated within the circle of the walls), were counted among the city's sestieri, joining the four historic sestieri. The construction of the Mura Nuove came to break the continuity of the borough: while the area around the church of S. Vincenzo was included within the new circle of walls along with part of the Bisagno plain and became the heart of the new sestiere, Borgo Incrociati remained outside it.

“The passage of so many people made this street popular, which was called the Borgo, as it really was before the last circle in 1633. At that time, many houses were flattened to make room for the walls, the moats, the external defensive works and the rampart. In this way, the very long and populated suburb was divided into three parts: the one enclosed by the new walls, called Strada S. Vincenzo; the one that was flattened and stretched from the Porta Romana to the Church of the Crutched Friars; the one that stretched from this church along the banks of the Bisagno, near the bridge of Sant'Agata, preserving the ancient and absolute name of Borgo.”

The Nineteenth Century

Although incorporated within the city walls, the district until the 19th century did not undergo significant changes. The main residential settlement remained the one along the main street, while the rest of the plain had a mainly agricultural use, with a few modest dwellings extending as far as the Carignano hill. The only building of any significance in the area known as “Abrara” (today's Cesarea Street and neighboring streets) was the ancient church of “S. Martino de via,” later S. Maria della Pace, which would later be demolished to make room for the urban expansion at the end of the century.

The urban plan prepared by architect Carlo Barabino in 1825, aimed at extending the city towards the east by overcoming the limits of the medieval city found, albeit amid various difficulties, a first partial application only between the 1930s and 1940s, under the direction of G.B. Resasco, who after Barabino's death in 1835 had succeeded him in the role of civic architect. In the mid-1940s, Via Colombo, parallel to the old S. Vincenzo street, and Via Galata, perpendicular to it, were built; at the intersection of the new streets, Piazza Colombo was constructed. The square, square in shape, was built following Barabino's design in principle, with four identical porticoed buildings constructed by entrepreneur Pietro Gambaro. With the new houses, the old village of artisans and peasants was gradually transformed into an elegant residential neighborhood.

In 1834 work was begun on the construction, in the area of today's Via Cesarea, of the asylum, the first city facility specifically intended for the hospitalization of the mentally ill, next to which a number of beehive-shaped houses for the working classes were built by entrepreneur Francesco Ponte.

The asylum, designed by Barabino, was completed under the direction of Celestino Foppiani in 1841. The structure consisted of a central circular building on five floors that housed the administration offices and common services. From this branched six building wings destined for the cells of the hospitalized patients. Gardens were created in the spaces between the various wings, and the whole complex was bounded outward by a circular portico. The structure, which occupied a total area of about two hectares, was inaugurated on August 14, 1841. However, the large building was short-lived: towards the end of the century, with the opening of Via XX Settembre, the area was given a residential use; thus, the new psychiatric hospital in Quarto was built, to which the patients were transferred in 1894. The building was demolished in 1914.

The twentieth century

Between the end of the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth century, the urbanization of the Abrara area was completed, which was totally changed after the construction of Via XX Settembre, with the demolition of the asylum, the long-deconsecrated Church of Peace, and the few modest dwellings that stood in an area still partly cultivated with vegetable gardens. In place of these buildings and the remaining agricultural areas, a new elegant residential and commercial district was thus created in the quadrangle between Via XX Settembre, Via del Prato (today Via Brigata Liguria) and the Walls of St. Clare.

The urban layout thus outlined at the turn of the century has not undergone significant changes since the 1920s. Buildings constructed during the twentieth century include the “Museum of Natural History” (1912), the “Theater of Youth” (1930), the “Palace of Financial Offices,” built in the 1930s on the site of the nineteenth-century slaughterhouse, and the Telecom skyscraper on the corner of Via S. Vincenzo and Via Fiume, built in the 1960s to a design by Piero Gambacciani.

Monuments and places of interest

Streets and squares

Historically, the suburb of San Vincenzo was located on the direct route from Genoa to the east, which, exiting the city through the gates opened in the successive extensions of the city walls, crossed the Bisagno River at the Sant'Agata Bridge. Over time, a new access from the east at Borgo Pila, which had sprung up across the stream on the Bisagno plain, had increased in importance.

The road axes delineated by these routes currently correspond to Via S. Vincenzo and Via XX Settembre, at the end of which, in the seventeenth-century walls, Porta Romana and Porta Pila opened, respectively. In the area between these two streets, the first urban expansion of the neighborhood (Via Colombo, Piazza Colombo and Via Galata) developed around 1840.

It was built in the last decade of the nineteenth century, rectifying and widening the route of Via Giulia and Via della Consolazione, in order to create a new road system towards the east, which until then had inadequate outlets. The naming of the new street was the subject of heated debate at the time, until the desire of many citizens prevailed to have the historic date of the Capture of Rome recognized with this naming. The section of the street affecting the S. Vincenzo district (from Ponte Monumentale to Via Fiume), while lacking the sumptuous appearance of the part between Piazza De Ferrari and Ponte Monumentale, characterized by high porticoes with Venetian-style pavements, is equally dense with elegant and prestigious stores, making the street one of the city's most popular destinations for shopping and strolling. At the time of its opening, the street, wide, rectilinear and flanked by palaces of unusual height for the times, represented a real novelty for the Genoese, who were accustomed to moving between narrow alleys. The competition for the construction of the new street was announced in 1883, after an almost 20-year debate, and it was not until 1887 that Cesare Gamba's design was approved. Work began in 1892. The lower part was built first, with the rearrangement of the former Consolation Street completed the following year; the street was inaugurated on January 18, 1896. The construction of the buildings facing the street would not be completed until 1913. All pre-existing buildings, except the Consolation church and the adjoining convent, were demolished and replaced by new buildings, built for the first time in Genoa in reinforced concrete.

The street that runs through the historic center of the district begins at the Monumental Bridge and reaches near Brignole station. The street, which is very old, formed part of the eastward link out of Genoa, heading toward the hill of San Martino d'Albaro, after crossing the Bisagno River at the Sant'Agata Bridge. The street's buildings, although marked by mid-nineteenth-century urban development, leave glimpses of the ancient suburban settlement, such as some late medieval buildings with portals, the former churches of San Vincenzo and Santo Spirito, and some Renaissance palaces, such as the Grimaldi-Sauli and Centurione palaces, where Virginia Centurione Bracelli was born.

Civil architecture

It is located between San Vincenzo Street and Colombo Street, next to the San Vincenzo Tower. Built between 1552 and 1554 to a design by Galeazzo Alessi for the Grimaldi family, because of the grandeur of its proportions and the richness of its ornaments, including frescoes by Luca Cambiaso and Orazio Semino, at the time of its construction it was considered by Gauthier to be one of the best suburban villas in Genoa, also mentioned by Vasari for its unusually ornate baths.

Passed from the Grimaldi to the Cybo and finally to the Sauli, from the eighteenth century it experienced a gradual period of decline: some rooms were first used for other purposes (silk production, warehouse), then the necessary maintenance of the structures was not promptly done, and in the nineteenth century it was divided into private apartments for needy families. The large garden behind disappeared to make way for the urbanization of the area. In 1897 a project to build eight apartment blocks threatened to erase forever what remained of the historic villa, which was instead purchased by the City of Genoa. Between 2007 and 2009 it was fully restored, bringing back the villa's fine 19th-century style, which, although far from the sumptuous monumentality of the original structure, is included in the ministerial list of Cultural Heritage and in the Municipal Urban Plan among the elements of individual emergency.

The San Vincenzo Tower, known as the “Telecom Tower” or also “SIP Building,” is a skyscraper in Genoa that housed the offices of Telecom Italia until the 1990s. Built between 1966 and 1968 to a design by architect Piero Gambacciani, it stands on Via S. Vincenzo at the corner of Via Fiume, across from Genova Brignole Station. Since 2005, it has housed the Genoa headquarters of Confindustria, as well as various associations and companies. With its 21 stories it reaches a height of 105 m and is the third tallest building in Genoa, after the Matitone in San Benigno and the Piacentini Tower in Piazza Dante.

Monumental Bridge, which connects the Acquasola and S. Chiara Walls, was built to plans by Cesare Gamba and Riccardo Haupt between 1893 and 1895, replacing the Porta degli Archi, which was dismantled and rebuilt on the Mura del Prato. Over the bridge, which bypasses Via XX Settembre, passes Corso Andrea Podestà, which runs on the ramparts of the 16th-century walls and connects Piazza Corvetto with the Carignano area. Having become one of the landmarks of the modern city, it divides the Portoria area from the S. Vincenzo area and offers an excellent view of Via XX Settembre below. The bridge, 21 meters high above the street level of Via XX Settembre, is built of stone and brick, according to the type of railway arches in use at that time, but was later covered externally with white Mazzano stone.

Religious architecture

The “Church of Our Lady of Consolation and St. Vincent the Martyr,” known simply as the “Church of Consolation” or also as the “Church of St. Rita,” is located on Via XX Settembre. Its parish is the seat of the Carignano-Foce vicariate of the Archdiocese of Genoa.

The church was built between 1681 and 1706 by the Augustinians, who had had to abandon the previous convent complex that had stood since 1475 on Zerbino Hill, demolished in 1681 because of its proximity to the New Walls, erected in 1632. Work was also begun to build a large cloister, which was never completed and would become the site of the Oriental Market in the late 19th century.

The new church was opened for worship as early as 1693, in 1769 the dome was built, designed by Simone Cantoni, and only in 1864 was the facade completed, by Carlo Biale.

Due to the Napoleonic suppression laws, the Augustinians had to abandon the convent in 1810. In 1813 the church became a parish church, adding to its title that of the defunct church of St. Vincent. The Augustinians, who still rule the parish, returned there in 1816.

Since the return of the Augustinians, throughout the 19th century, various artists helped complete the decoration of the church, which was consecrated in 1875 by Archbishop Paolo Micallef of Pisa.

The church has three naves, separated by quadrangular pillars, with several side chapels. The vaults of the naves, dome and chancel were entirely frescoed in the 19th century. The church preserves numerous works of art from periods ranging from the 15th to the 19th century and a fine 19th-century organ. A remarkable collection of paintings is preserved in the refectory of the adjoining convent.

The Church of Saints Peter and Paul stands upstream from Brignole station, on the Fieschine slope, on the Montesano heights. Its parish is part of the Carignano-Foce vicariate of the Archdiocese of Genoa.

It was built in 1874 to a design by Giovanni Novella as the chapel of the new ecclesiastical boarding school, inaugurated two years earlier on Montesano hill. Consecrated on June 21, 1874 by Archbishop Salvatore Magnasco, it was erected into an autonomous vicariate in 1961 and into a parish in 1968 by decrees of Cardinal Siri.

Military architecture

The district, as already mentioned, once outside the sixteenth-century walls, was later included in the seventeenth-century "New Walls." What remains of the two circles of walls delimits the present neighborhood.

“From the interior of the city one enters the sestiere of S. Vincenzo through five gates: of the Arco, or S. Stefano; of Portoria; of Acquasola; of Portello; and of Carbonara. One could add the sixth, called Santa Chiara, which was opened around 1819; but since from 1822 onward it has only opened for public service, it is not for the use of the inhabitants of the area. To those who wish to go outside the city five gates are wide open: Pila, Romana, Montaldo, S. Bernardino, and Chiappe.”

A section of the sixteenth-century walls, from the Acquasola bastion to the Cappuccine walls, passing through the Mura di S. Chiara and the Mura del Prato, delimits the area of S. Vincenzo from those of Portoria and Carignano. These walls are still well preserved: above them runs the present Corso A. Podestà, which bypasses Via XX Settembre passing over the Monumental Bridge. Open in these walls were the gates of Acquasola (which disappeared with the construction of Piazza Corvetto), Portoria (also called Olivella or S. Caterina), which still exists and connected the village of S. Vincenzo, through the Salita della Tosse, with the center of Piccapietra, near the old Pammatone Hospital, and finally the main one, Porta degli Archi or S. Stefano, which stood where the Monumental Bridge is today.

Built in 1539 to a design by Giovanni Maria Olgiati, it was decorated on the outer side with Doric travertine columns and surmounted by a statue of St. Stephen, made by Taddeo Carlone. In 1896, following the construction of Via XX Settembre and the construction of the Monumental Bridge, it was dismantled and rebuilt at the Mura del Prato, on Via R.Banderali, near the D'Oria High School. A plaque commemorates the relocation of the gate.

Almost nothing remains of the 17th-century walls in the S. Vincenzo area. The mighty wall that descended from the Zerbino hill ends today on the Montesano heights, while the entire section placed in defense of the city along the right bank of the Bisagno, the so-called Fronti Basse, was completely dismantled in the late nineteenth century to allow the urban development of the city towards the east. Two gates opened between these ramparts, the monumental Porta Pila and the more modest Porta Romana. The latter, so named because it was located along the medieval via “Romana” which, crossing the Bisagno River, continued eastward, was located at the entrance of via San Vincenzo, corner of via Fiume. It was demolished in 1891 along with the Fronti Basse.

Society

Education

A number of ancient Genoese educational institutions are located in the S. Vincenzo district.

Liceo-Ginnasio Andrea D'Oria. Founded in 1824 as a school of higher studies, in its first location in Stradone Sant'Agostino, in the Sarzano area, it assumed its present name in 1849. In 1937 it was moved to its current location on Via Diaz.

Gian Domenico Cassini Scientific High School. Founded in 1923, since the early 1960s it has been based in Viale Sauli, in a newly constructed building built within the grounds of Villa Serra. In the panorama of Genoese anti-fascism, it is remembered because it was attended by some members of the Resistance (Buranello, Issel and Fillak, the latter of whom was expelled from the high school for his antifascist militancy).

Vittorino da Feltre Institute. The institute named after the Venetian humanist was founded in 1876 by the Barnabite Fathers, and was located at no. 10 Salita S. Caterina. Purchased in 1895 by the Da Passano marquises, in the early 20th century it was moved to its current location in Via Maragliano, near Via XX Settembre, built on part of the area of the former Franciscan convent of S. Maria della Pace. The institute, which today belongs to a private company, is still run by the Barnabites, who have always maintained its management even after changes in ownership. It includes the entire primary and junior high school cycle and a scientific high school.

Infrastructure and transportation

Urban roads

Of the urban streets in the district today, only Via XX Settembre, with its neighboring Via Fiume and Via Brigata Liguria, still partially plays a role as an urban link between the city center and the east, while the other streets are only functional for homes and businesses that overlook them.

Highways

The nearest highway exit is Genova-Est on the A12 Genoa-Livorno freeway, which is located in the Staglieno district, 5 km away.

Railways

Genova Brignole railway station is located a few hundred meters from the center of the district.

Urban transportation

Subway. The neighborhood is served by Brignole station, the eastern terminus of the Genoa Metro. Adjacent to the train station of the same name, this station entered service on December 22, 2012, with the opening of the De Ferrari-Brignole section.

Buses. Numerous AMT city bus lines run through the district, connecting the city center with Sampierdarena, the Levante, Val Bisagno, and the hilly areas.

Public elevators. The Ponte Monumentale public elevator has been in operation since 1959, connecting Via XX Settembre to Corso A. Podestà.

Airports

Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport - 12 km.

Hospitals

Galliera Hospital - less than 1 km

San Martino Hospital - 3 km.