Genoa Port is enormous. The entire frontage is protected by a breakwater some 4.5 nautical miles (nM) long. Some 2.5 to 3 nM are the container port. There is a marina in there, and it's probably cheaper but it's very industrial. Along the front of the breakwater is an airport especially for water planes.
The other end is where leisure craft and ferries operate. It's not that easy to see on arrival, and the pilotage waypoints are useful to keep you on track. There is a peculiar curved structure, like a large white caterpillar, which is highly visible. It is actually the complex underneath the Bigo tourist attraction; the entrance is about 0.5 nM east.
Once you've found it, it's a wide channel. Leisure craft keep well to the sides: we encountered no ferries but they would surely need most of the space. You pass two marinas on your right, then the route curves right. There is large basin full of ferries (not shown on the two non-overlapping chartlets in Heikell), and a narrow gap, leaving the distinctive Port Authority building to starboard. This opens into a fair size basin. Keep right and you will see a bunch of superyachts, beyond which the distinctive Bigo and the Biosphere appear. If you want the Porto Antico, it is the further on of the two long moles of yachts. Porto Antico has a number of concrete moles sticking out at right angles to the main one.
We had rung ahead and been told to go to space L7. Hah! L7 was well occupied, and in any case did not look big enough for us. A frantic radio call later, we were redirected to E34. 'E34?' we queried. That put us deep into the harbour into really small boat territory. Yikes. We turned round, saying that we were coming to E34 immediately, hoping fervently someone would be there.
Indeed he was, waiting to take our lines. On I34 - a perfectly accessible and manageable spot. What a relief.
Here you get two lines to hold you off, power and water. It's all very smart with good ablutions (though no recycling). It's the first place for which we've paid since Toulon. �'�50 per night for us, and we forgot to bargain. Ah well - it's cheaper than a hotel would ever be.
And the best thing of all was that our neighbour was celebrating her birthday with a pontoon party. Elizabeta had a great meal and kindly asked us to join them. Her daughter, Serena, spoke good English and told us about her training in circus skills. Elizabeta's partner, Eugenio, owned the motor boat across from us, and is just doing it up. He gave us a loving tour. He and several friends, many of whom are engineers, also became very interested in our stern roller problem and have suggested several clever remedies.
We were interested to discover that at least two Italian boats there flew a red ensign. It is a popular thing to do here, apparently, because there is much less regulation of UK flagged yachts than most other countries. We knew this; for instance, a UK boat need not carry a liferaft, a radio or have annual surveys. Such requirements are placed by many other countries. But in most places, a boat must be registered in the country of nationality of its owner. Obviously Italy is not too bothered about such a rule. So, we won't assume that all those red ensigns belong to British cruisers. (It also says something about English assumptions about how the UK is more regulated than other European countries; in the world of small, non-commercial pleasure craft, that is simply not true.)
So far Italy has been very kind to us, with friendly cruisers and a free place in San Remo, and now a great welcome party in Genoa.