This City Once Ruled the Mediterranean. Now It’s Eyeing a Comeback

You’d never guess it now, but slumping, sagging, demoralized Genoa was the richest city in the world just 700 years ago.

Genoa’s commercial fleet and powerful navy dominated the Mediterranean for over 100 years, and the independent city state had its own empire stretching from Syria to the Crimea. Its merchants and financiers helped bankroll the vast palazzos and other architectural treasures that led proud locals to call the city “the Superb.”