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The Acquasola Park was built on an old esplanade in Genoa, which today stretches from Piazza Corvetto, to the monumental bridge (via XX Settembre).
In the past, the area used to be surrounded by fourteenth-century walls, built as a fortification during the wars against Genoa. “Porta dell’Acquasola”, one of the main gates to the city build within those very walls, was eventually destroyed.

In the sixteenth century, that area of the city was called “dei Müggi” (“landfill”, in the Genoese dialect), filled with the debris coming from the nearby construction site of via Garibaldi. That place was later used by the military and for entertainment and dumping purposes.

In the seventeenth century, people stopped using it completely, due to the plague that hit the city of Genoa around the year 1657. It was then used as a common grave for the numberless victims. Today, archaeologists can still find traces of them right beneath the road surface.

In 1800, the area became a real park, reaching its maximum splendour in 1821, thanks to architect Carlo Barabino. Nonetheless, it was reduced in size, although it was also connected to Villetta Dinegro (now hosting Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art) via a large terrace. Embellished with trees and shrubs, it was long used by the locals for walking and recreation and even mentioned by the writer Stendhal in his “Italian Journey”.

Despite being about to host a huge parking lot, Acquasola Park is still a valuable nature resort for the locals.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)