Although its dark and narrow alleyways can be rather oppressive at night, Genoa is a charming city by day with a rich seam of 'palazzi' running through its centre. I visited in July 2014 before heading to the Cinque Terre down the Ligurian coast.

Genoa airport is very close to the city centre, although we paid a handsome €30 for a taxi to our hotel. Better value, though, is entry to three of the Palazzi museums, which was reasonably priced at €9. This includes the Palazzo Bianco, the Palazzo Rosso and the Palazzo Tursi. The first two are full of Renaissance art, including Caravaggio’s Ecce Homo and Dürer’s Portrait of a Young Man. The Rosso in particular also tries to give you a taste of how the palazzi would have been decorated back when they used to be inhabited.

The best view we found of the city was from the top of the Palazzo Rosso, where you can go up to the roof terrace and get a panoramic view over the city. The palazzo's curators were extremely insistent that we follow the pre-specified routes around their almost empty museums, so we found ourselves being forced to go up to the roof terrace a second time after taking a shortcut on our way back down from our first visit to the roof!