Forte Diamante from Genova. Circular route

HKING AROUND THE WALLS AND FORTS OF GENOA


The total distance is 25.4 klm. The total duration is 10 hours. The altitude difference is 780 m. The route is well signposted and well maintained but extra care is needed in several parts of the route.


This is a circular route without any particular technical difficulties, but quite challenging due to its duration and altitude difference. However, there are some difficult route choices. An attempt to reach the Genoa lighthouse failed because it was closed that day. From the centre of Genoa you walk westwards to reach San Benigno, then you cross Sampierdarena along the ancient route (now Via Dottesio - Via Daste). At the beginning of Salita Belvedere you come across the totem of the Sampierdarena - Forte Diamante route (empty red circle sign) and you follow this route entirely, through Forte Crocetta, the Santuario del Garbo, Fregoso, Cancello dell'Avvocato and the ancient military road that runs alongside Forte Begato, Forte Sperone, Forte Puin and finally reaches Forte Diamante. Return towards the centre of Genoa, following the full red diamond sign and afterwards, going down towards Ostaia de Baracche and then following the military road outside the seventeenth-century walls, up to Porta San Bernardino. You enter from the gate and reach Piazza Corvetto.


This is a superb reflection of Genoa 's long history. It is consisted of "bastions and defensive walls" that today still mark the ridges above the city. A series of military forts from different periods, which the people of Genoa built over the course of centuries to defend its territory. Some of the most notewarthy include the seventeenth-century walls that extend for more than 19 kilometers, following the lines of the mountain ranges.

They are the historical and architectural heritage of the Genoese defense system, which over thousand years of history, has had seven city walls. From the pre-Roman walls to the Mura Nuove New Walls, built between 1626 and 1634 to further defend the city and its port area.


In order to control the walls, an additional complex of robust defensive forts was built during different eras. In particular, the completion of the eighteenth-century forts and the building of the new 19th-century ones took place during the reign of the Savoys, by the Royal Sardinian Engineering Corps.


The Genoese fort complex, as a whole, represents an extraordinary architectural example of a "modern" defense system and includes a considerable number of principal fortifications, 16 in all, and 85 bastions.


The Genoese fortification system is divided into two main branches and includes the central system that winds along the south-north dorsul of the seventeenth century defensive section, which extends from Belvedere Fort to Sperone Fort. After passing Sperone Fort, along the last stretch of the route and outside of the New Walls, there are the isolated fortifications of Puin Fort, Fratello Maggiore Fort, now destroyed, as well as Minore Fort, before reaching Diamante Fort, the defensive bastion located furthest north of the city. The second, the eastern branch, winds instead through the hills just above the area to the east of the city.


Both of the branches are well connected internally by networks of paths. The Park of the City Walls with its 671 hectures, represents a rich ecosystem that includes more than 900 species of trees, further increasing the absolutely unique panoramic and naturalistic value of this area.


The ridges and the forts identify the torographic limit within which the historic city developed and constitute the structure of a wider system, that includes historical routes and artifacts, evidence of the valleys towards the Val Bisagno and Val Polcevera, green areses in direct contact with the ancient city, natural free spaces still present in proximity of the bulidings and portions of agricultural contexts.


The system became a Protected Natural Area of Local Interest with Regional Decree in 2000. Today the park represents a vast green lung where the natural environment is quite diversified. On the hillsides, the woodlands are characterized by a variety of broad-leaved trees and conifers among which we distinguish the following species: hornbeam, manne ash, holm oak, downy oak, stone pine, Aleppo pine, cypress. Going up along the summits, the vegetal cover is constituted mainly by prairies and shrubs. The grassland habitats are home to valuable flora and fauna primarily attributable to Mediterranean arid meadows.


Forte Diamante

The last fort of the route starting from the city and the first arriving from the door of Trensasco, in a dominant position at an altitude of 670 metres is the Forte Diamante. Built in 1758 as an advanced position to control the enemy's movements in the valleys below, the Diamante, on the summit of the homonymous mountain, dominates the Val Polcevera and Val Bisagno. It is the northernmost castle. Unfortunately, there is no access to the inner castle.


Forte Sperone

Forte Sperone lies at an altitude of 512 metres. It is the most northern of the Forts of Genova, along the Mura Nuove the "New Walls". Built in 1747, after the siege of the city by the Austro-Piedmont army, it is a superb example of 17th century military architecture, with its picturesque distribution of masses and irregular projections that give it a majestic appearance. Its position dominates and controls the valleys while the ridge overlook other two forts: the Fratello Minere and Fratello Maggiore.

With the construction of the Mura Nuove, the Fort becomes part of the perimeter of the walls.

The pivotal position of Forte Sperone will be confirmed also in 1800, reading the instructions for the defense of the city given by the Napoleonic General André Massena, during the English siege of Genova. The General, in a letter to the Genoese, writes of a city "now famous for the heroic constancy with which its inhabitants have suffered deprivation of every kind, in a siege during which the enemy targeted her". And he concludes: "I will never forget the generous efforts that these people have made both to defend their independence and out of attachment to me".

Forte Sperone has an imposing and threatening shape that characterizes it.


References

Link: https://www.historiaregni.it/lassedio-di-genova-del-1800/ http://www.francobampi.it/liguria/blocco/secolo2000.3.htm