Aquarium of Genoa

The second largest aquarium in Europe when it was built is located in the middle of the famous port city on Italy's Ligurian coast. Behind L'Oceanografic in Valencia, Spain, the Genoa Aquarium was the next largest in the entire EU - today it calls itself the largest in Europe. It was opened in 1992 as part of the anniversary and celebrations of the 500-year discovery of America, which began in Genoa - Columbus famously came from the Italian port city. The building is located on the area of the Porto Antico, not far from the station Piazza Principe as also from the subway stop San Giorgio. Thus, it is very easy to reach by public transport. A motorway exit also leads directly to the site, that of Genova Ovest on the A7.

Impressive figures

The aquarium has been expanded again and again in the years since its opening. It was originally planned by the famous architects Renzo Piano and Peter Chermayeff. The building is 430 metres long, houses 63 tanks, five of which extend over two floors. The total volume of water in all the aquariums is six million litres. 25 centimeters thick is the thickest pane of acrylic glass of a basin, the water temperature in the coldest basin is minus one degree Celsius, the water in the warmest basin is plus 30 degrees Celsius.

About 12,000 animals live in the different tanks, the smallest is only five millimetres in size (a golden frog), the largest is a two and a half metre long dolphin. About 60 tons of food are needed per year, 250 people work in the aquarium. A very special attraction is the tactile tank, where visitors can touch and stroke the fish swimming here - bream, barbel and even rays.

Many different species

The tour of the aquarium takes about two and a half hours. Guests pass countless pools where sea creatures are displayed in lifelike replicas of their natural habitats. Large seawater tanks with dolphins, seals, sea turtles and even sharks are the special attraction of the Acquario di Genova. There is a seal tank with dog seals, the different species of sharks (sand tiger shark, grey reef shark) share a large shark tank with saw rays. Humboldt penguins can be admired as well as the bottlenose dolphins in the dolphin pool or coral pool or a hummingbird forest.

Mudskippers, archerfish and four-eyes live in the mangrove pool, and visitors can admire typical animals of the African island in the coral reef of Madagascar: Emperor angelfish, the roundhead batfish, the common bannerfish or the blacktip reef shark. There is also a tank with Red Sea fauna and flora, a jellyfish tank and one with the giant crabs of Japan. The Madagascar jungle is home to chameleons, day geckos and Nile crocodiles, as well as pelomedus turtles.

Galata Museu del Mare

Beside the many different tanks, there are further facilities worth seeing in the aquarium of Genoa. Here, only the Galata Museu del Mare is mentioned that is dedicated to the history of the sea navigation. Here, one can visit a galley with a length of 33 metres that dates back to the 17th century. Another 6,000 original objects tell the story of seafaring.

If you still haven't had enough, you can take the Bigo Panorama lift high into the air and see Genoa from above.