Santa Maria di Castello

There is evidence that the castle hill is one of the oldest sites in Genoa, as it was used when early tribes were trading with the Phoenicians and Etruscans. Between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, a series of churches and monasteries were built here. At the center of the complex is the 12th-century Romanesque church of Santa Maria, and inside Christ Church you can enter a three-story cloister that was added when the Dominicans made it into a convent in the 15th century. These rooms overlook the sea and feature beautiful frescoed ceilings.