If you are passing by Genoa, especially if you are travelling with kids, you can’t miss a visit to the Aquarium!

aquarium of Genoa

The main attraction of Genoa

It is one of the most known attraction in the city with its 600 species for a total of more than 1200 animals. Inaugurated in 1992 for the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s discovery of the New World, the Aquarium welcomes over one million visitors every year. You and your kids will be astonished walking by the 70 tanks where these amazing animals live with the best care of a team of specialists who provide to all their needs.

Visit the Aquarium

The tour lasts approximately three hours and is divided in different sections:

  • Firstly you will start the tour by an enormous cylinder shaped tank that hosts moray eels and Scorpion fish. Following the tour you will meet the sea cows, and that’s incredible as Genoa is the only place in Italy where you can find these rare animals and one of the ten in Europe!
  • Secondly you will walk through the New Cetaceans Pavilion that has been designed by the famous architect Renzo Piano. It includes 4 open-air tanks and 19 tanks in the Biodiversity Pavilion, located within an actual ship called “Nave Italia“.
  • Thirdly there is a new tank (from Spring 2020) dedicated to the North Pacific Coast. You will meet a large number of invertebrates and, among them, the king is the Pacifc Giant Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) which is the biggest existing octopus. Can you believe it can reach 40 kg weight and tentacles about 4,5 mt length? It’s amazing!!!!
  • After that it’s shark time! You will be there watching these incredible predators (different species, not only one!!) swimming all over the place but there aren’t just the sharks in that tank… There are two sawfish too coming from the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific Ocean.
  • At last don’t forget to bring a jumper with you because to host the penguins the team of the Aquarium reproduced a small corner of the Falkland Islands and the icy atmosphere will freeze you up! Aren’t they the cutest animals ever? Or maybe you think dolphins and turtles are better? Well, no problem… You will meet them all during your tour!

In conclusion I’m sure you won’t regret the visit to Aquarium of Genoa!