Genoa introduces augmented reality in new city guide app

It features many characters that are symbolic of the city, among them Columbus and Paganini

What’s the common connection between a grandfather, an octopus, the Doge, a crusader, Rubens, Christopher Columbus and Paganini? It turns out all of them have a link to the Italian city of Genoa and have been adopted as its symbols and now as its digital tour mascots for a new tourism mobile app called ‘Visit Genoa’.

These characters will come alive on your phone (sort of) thanks to augmented reality technology in order to guide you through the streets of the ancient port city. The project, expressly designed for the involvement of children and families, was commissioned by the Department of Policies for the development of tourism and territorial marketing. It was created together with the local cartoonist Enzo Marciante, who recently produced a comic book on the history of Genoa.

The app can guide you along four routes

This initiative for the digitization of the tourist experience included, in its first phase of development, the installation of georeferenced plates at 163 points of attraction around the city. The app can also provide audio guiding both in English and Italian, in addition to information about tourist accommodation.

Here are the 4 tours that one can take in the historic centre of Genoa with the app:

• Green tour "In the heart of the Superba": It is the medieval tour that winds through the city built between the eleventh and first half of the twelfth century. The first stop is in Piazza De Ferrari at Palazzo Ducale. From here begins an exciting walk in the heart of the caruggi, as the medieval alleys are locally known.
• Red tour "I Palazzi dei Rolli": It involves 42 residences of the ancient Genoese aristocratic families. The route winds along the streets of the historic centre, among the buildings that have been included on the World Heritage Site list by UNESCO. The itinerary starts from Palazzo Andrea Doria – the seat of the Prefecture – and goes to Palazzo Ambrogio Di Negro.
• Orange tour "The medieval city": The departure is from the arcades at the back of Palazzo San Giorgio. The itinerary continues towards Campo Pisano and then returns to Caricamento passing through Piazza Matteotti, Via San Lorenzo and the loggia di Banchi. It is a historical tour with a visit to the birthplaces of Christopher Columbus and other Genoese historical figures.
• Blue tour "The Way of the Knights": It goes between Stazione Marittima and Palazzo Francesco Grimaldi, in Piazza di Pellicceria, passing through Villa del Principe, Commenda di Prè, Truogoli di Santa Brigida and the shopping streets, now via del Jeans, up to via San Luca.