This really is a very unusual place to stay. The hotel is an old Palazzo furnished with some trendy designer-items. The location is in the middle of the city centre and the rooms are quite large and have reasonably comfortable beds. There is computer with free internet in the rooms – nice touch not having to be overcharged for something now a days considered to be standard in every home.
The very central location besides the pedestrian area, unfortunately also means, that the only access by car is through a really narrow alley – you will have to close in the mirrors and then still only have about one centimetre of free space on each side. You will have to park the car in one of the nearby car-parks at a cost of 25 euro a day.
We had a room towards a small square opposite the cathedral. Unfortunately it also gave us a perfect view of the local junkies, who 24-7 sat on some steps just below the windows using their drugs – not the most charming experience.
The room was extremely hot and the so called aircondition merely was a hose out the window, just trying to circulate the air in the room. This didn’t help at all and the device was extremely noisy making it almost impossible to sleep.
After the first night we choose to use it anyway, as the noise from the street was almost intolerable. Constantly people were shouting and arguing (probably due to the fact that the square attracted so many junkies). When things finally calmed down, collection of garbage started at exactly 2.30 am and went on to early morning. We have never experienced noisier garbage collectors than here. The trucks drove back and forth, containers were dragged over the paving stones and the frequently tinkle of the bottle bins nearly made us crazy. On top the garbage collectors were constantly shouting to each other, probably to drown the noise from the trucks engines. We wondered how on earth they were able to collect garbage all night long on the rather small square behind the hotel, but it turned out that on most occasions they weren’t actually driving on the square itself, but in the adjacent streets – because the city centre consists of a number of narrow alleys in all directions, the sound apparently travels unrestrained around (we could have sworn they were just below our window).
As mentioned we decided to solve the issue by turning on the aircondition, and after another sleepless night (now due to the noise from aircondition), we actually managed to get a couple of decent nights sleep.
During our stay we were rather edgy about this issue, but seen from the distance, we realize of course that we had chosen the hottest time of year to visit Genoa. And that junkies and noisy drunks are running around just outside the front door, probably must be considered a general problem when staying in the centre of a major city. But a real aircondition which can cool down the rooms and give you the option to close the windows, really would be a major advantage to this hotel.
Breakfast was a slightly alternative buffet served in the lobby, but was actually quite good. Unfortunately we had to take it with us to the room a couple of times as there was no vacant seating in the lobby.
Staff was very friendly and helpful, and it seemed like there was a more personal feeling than normally seen staying at different hotels (probably due to the fact the hotel only had 11 rooms as I recall).
Unfortunately we didn’t like Genoa very much. It’s a rather large city with intensive traffic and with a worn and mucky appearance. The city centre consists of a number of narrow and scruffy alleys, from whom you are advised by the locals not to walk after dark. We had read that prior to our visit, but when the local shop-owners specifically advise against walking around the streets at night, there obviously must be a problem.
There clearly were a high number of beggars, drunks etc. hanging around the streets, and we have never seen such a large force of police present than in the centre of Genoa.
As mentioned earlier our review turned out to be more positive than our immediate impression. When seen from the distance, and taking into account that you might want to drop the hottest month of the year, you do in fact get to stay at a very central hotel (in good and bad) which is a little more than the “normal” hotel-experience in terms of interior design and service. But on the other hand we cannot find any reasonable reason for staying in the middle of a dirty and heavily trafficked city as Genoa, when there is so many wonderful places and smaller towns on the coast on both sides of Genoa.