Staglieno Days: art, memory, and entertainment in 19th-century Genoa

From September 27 to 28, 2025, the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno becomes the symbolic heart of the great narrative on nineteenth-century Genoa, with the new edition of Staglieno Days. The initiative is part of a broader autumn calendar in which Genoa takes center stage in an eclectic journey through art, civic history, literature, and memory, conceived to rediscover and highlight the city’s second “Golden Century,” as defined by scholars and the municipality. This year, the cemetery itself—an architectural masterpiece inaugurated in 1851—will serve as the stage for twelve thematic itineraries, each led by scientific communicators who will guide citizens and visitors through avenues, arcades, groves, and historic chapels, weaving together the stories of great Genoese figures and bourgeois aristocratic families with funerary art and urban history.

The depth of the Staglieno Days project lies in its intention to offer the public an organic and living vision of nineteenth-century Genoa, recounting—through marble, memories, and monuments—the cultural, social, and political ferment that marked the nineteenth century. The itineraries proposed are not limited to classic guided tours but are enriched with musical interludes, short theatrical performances, readings of period texts, and the participation of costumed re-enactors, making each route immersive and engaging. Among the main arcades and the evocative “Boschetto dei Mille,” where figures of the Italian Risorgimento such as Mameli and Mazzini rest, visitors will be able to discover the stories, anxieties, and passions that crossed Genoa during its period of greatest bourgeois splendor, after the glories of the aristocratic Republic between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Staglieno, regarded by many experts as a true open-air museum, offers a unique scenario: valuable funerary monuments, the neoclassical Pantheon, sculptures, and tombs that recount not only the history of illustrious deceased but also the aesthetic tastes, social values, and existential ideals of the time. Each itinerary, from the “City of Marble” to the literary focus of “Dormono sulla collina” and the exploration of figures from the arts, is designed to show the connections between individual memory and collective history, bringing to light a universal language that transcends epochs. Thirty scientific communicators, the protagonists of the event, propose tours lasting between 35 and 70 minutes, allowing participants to contemplate the richness of the historical and artistic heritage, the variety of chapels, the spirituality, and the civic spirit that characterized the century.

More than elsewhere, the cemetery becomes a crossroads of political and social stories: here one can read the inscriptions and symbols through which the Genoese constructed their public narrative. The experience designed by Staglieno Days thus offers opportunities to reflect on the relationship between Genoa and the great transformations of the nineteenth century, from the industrial revolution that led to the birth of new social classes, to the Risorgimento adventure that saw popular movements and leading national figures play a decisive role. Culture, as underlined by Mayor Silvia Salis, becomes an opportunity for inclusion and intergenerational dialogue, strengthening the sense of belonging and sparking the curiosity of citizens and students toward often neglected heritage.

The Genova ’800 calendar continues with a series of collateral initiatives spread across museums, galleries, and bookstores throughout the city. Among the highlights is the exhibition Ottocento svelato. Racconti di musei e collezioni nella Genova del XIX secolo (“The Nineteenth Century Revealed. Stories of Museums and Collections in Nineteenth-Century Genoa”), designed to rediscover Genoa as a capital of art and collecting during that century. The Genoese autumn thus becomes a season of rediscovery: from literary itineraries linking the city to Sardinia, Naples, and Palermo, to exhibitions dedicated to Niccolò Barabino and Nomellini, the project aims to present a dynamic and polyphonic portrait of Ligurian culture at the turn of the century. The variety of themes addressed—from technical innovations to social unrest, from female figures to forgotten stories—offers the chance to explore the complexity, contradictions, and energy that animated Genoa at the time.

Staglieno Days therefore represents a rare opportunity to bring new generations closer to civic heritage, with itineraries designed to involve families, enthusiasts, scholars, and the simply curious. The city’s memory comes to life in the encounter between past and present, between the silence of the tombs and the vitality of the stories that still animate Genoa’s cultural fabric today. The success of the event, which has grown over time and is ideally linked to the Rolli Days that celebrate the city’s historic palaces, testifies to the growing desire to discover Genoa through the hidden folds of its past. In the heart of the city, among marble statues watching over the men and women who made history, the challenge of preserving and transmitting the legacy of a pivotal century—made of stone, poetry, and civic spirit—is renewed.