Since 1897, when the Savoy monarchy ruled the almost forty-year-old Kingdom of Italy, anyone wishing to discover the labyrinthine center of Genoa, the “Superba”, one of the most prosperous maritime republics of Europe, independent from 1099 to 1815, chose to stay at the “Grand Hotel Savoia”, which seduces with a solemn charm of yesteryear, an ideal base from which to explore the tangle – a confusion of light and shadow, sky and darkness, in an immense maritime thrill – of the “carrugi”, alleyways and squares, churches and munificent noble palaces, such as the Rolli, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.