Meet our expert guide in Piazza Caricamento, in the Porto Antico area for a day dedicated to discovering De Andrè's historic places.
The itinerary begins with a visit to Via del Campo, which gives its title to one of his most famous songs, for a stop at the Musei dei Cantautori, at number 29 red, one of the key places in De Andrè's Genoa. It was once the music shop of his friend Gianni Tassio and today it has been transformed into a museum dedicated to the singer-songwriter, his friends and Genoese colleagues, including Luigi Tenco. The museum is also home to the Genoa Club "Fabrizio De André" (possible internal visit based on opening hours).
Then we continue through part of the characteristic Quartiere della Maddalena, once animated by brothels and port prostitutes, who came to life in the most emblematic characters of De André's songs.
You can then taste some of the authentic local delicacies, among the historical places mentioned in the famous song “Shipwreck of the London Valour”.
Faber’s story echoes among the arcades of Sottoripa, where in the 1950s De André used to frequent the Ragno Verde club, mentioned in the novel “Un destino ridicolo”, together with his friend Paolo Villaggio. After Sottoripa, an ancient medieval area, a stop on a bench in the celebratory “Via al mare Fabrizio De André”, will allow us to admire the suggestive Porto Antico of Genoa and imagine Faber holding out the tape recorder to the voices of the fishmongers at the fish market, to insert it into the recording of the famous song “Creuza de Mä”. We enter the alleys again to reach Piazza Cinque Lampadi, where Laggero was located, a historic music shop and rehearsal room used by De Andrè. The history of Genoese music has passed through Gaggero: the New Trolls, the Ricchi e Poveri, the Matia Bazar, the Delirium, Ivano Fossati, Bruno Lauzi, Gino Paoli.
We continue to finally arrive in Piazza De Ferrari, the heart of the city, in front of the Palazzo Ducale, you will see the Teatro dell’Opera Carlo Felice, on whose stage the Genoese singer-songwriter held the memorable concert on Christmas Eve in 1997. Near Piazza de Ferrari is Via XX Settembre, the main street of the center. During the first years of his apprenticeship, Fabrizio performed there in a club called La Borsa di Arlecchino.
The itinerary in the footsteps of Fabrizio De André continues with a visit to the Latteria Igea, on the corner of Via Cecchi and Via Casaregis, which Gino Paoli recalls in one of his songs: the Four friends at the bar were Paoli, Fabrizio, Tenco, and the lyricist Riccardo Mannerini, who lived in the building of the bar, and whose poems gave birth to songs such as Il cantico dei drogati. Free lunch. In the afternoon, transfer by private car to the Sant’Ilario district, which will offer an exceptional view of Genoa. Here we can find the old Bocca di Rosa railway station, and a sculpture in the shape of a book, on which we can read an acrostic dedicated to the protagonist of one of Faber’s most beloved songs. Genoa is in music, but also in the life of the appreciated singer-songwriter, among the scents and flavors of the porticoes of Sottoripa, among historic fry shops and grocery stores, where you can still taste "A cimma", the traditional dish based on veal and vegetables, to which he dedicated a song in dialect. Stop on the way back to visit the exterior of Villa Bombrini Paradiso, where the family lived for a period, passing through Boccadasse, a place that De Andrè loved very much.
