There is a different way to visit Genoa’s old town, and it goes through the nose. During Genova Profumata 2026, from 10 September to 18 October, the fragrance route runs through the city’s landmark places: following it is, in effect, a walking route through the Palazzi dei Rolli — the aristocratic residences listed as UNESCO heritage since 2006, whose twentieth anniversary falls this year. Here is how to walk it, stop by stop.
What the Palazzi dei Rolli are
It is worth recalling what the Rolli were. In the sixteenth century Genoa’s noble families entered their residences on official lists — the rolli of public lodgings — from which the palace that would host visiting sovereigns, ambassadors and cardinals was drawn by lot. Not hotels, but private homes placed at the service of the Republic. Of that system, forty-two palaces along the Strade Nuove are today on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Crossing them by following a scent is an unusual way to read their weave.
The starting point: via Garibaldi
The heart of the route is via Garibaldi, the old Strada Nuova. Here stand Palazzo Tursi, Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco — today the Musei di Strada Nuova — and, just above, Palazzo della Meridiana. Palazzo Tursi, now the city hall, keeps the “Cannone,” Paganini’s violin; Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Bianco hold the city’s art collections. Walking the street, between frescoed façades and portals of slate and marble, the diffused scent accompanies the visit without covering it: a green, aromatic trace you notice and then forget, the way you forget the background of a place you know well.
Into the caruggi: via Cairoli, via Luccoli, Campetto
From via Garibaldi the route drops into the caruggi. Via Cairoli links it to the web of alleys, while via Luccoli — one of the historic shopping streets — leads towards Campetto and via di Scurreria. This is the narrowest, most vertical Genoa, where the scent behaves differently: in the tight spaces between buildings it lingers and grows stronger, in the open squares it disperses. Anyone who knows where diffusers are placed understands how much space changes how a fragrance performs.
The monumental core: San Lorenzo and Palazzo Ducale
The route then reaches via San Lorenzo, with its black-and-white striped cathedral, and opens onto Palazzo Ducale, the city’s civic centre. This is where the Genova Profumata 2026 path comes closest to institutional, touristic Genoa — the Genoa of grand squares and museums. If you like, you can pair the route with a visit to the Musei di Strada Nuova or Palazzo Ducale, turning the olfactory walk into a full day.
The 2026 novelty: eastwards
Compared with the first edition, the 2026 route stretches east. From Palazzo Ducale the path continues along via XX Settembre — the arcaded Umbertine avenue — then via San Vincenzo and via Colombo as far as piazza Colombo, with additions towards via Ravecca and piazza Sarzano, in the medieval heart. Via XX Settembre is yet another Genoa: nineteenth-century, bourgeois, made of arcades and shop windows, very different from the medieval maze of the caruggi. Including it means telling the city across two eras along the same itinerary. In all it covers around five kilometres and 270,000 square metres of city: far wider than the simple museum loop.
When to walk it
September and October are, not by chance, the months chosen for the project. The light is softer, the summer heat has passed and the old town is less crowded than in August: ideal conditions for an unhurried walk. In the evening, as the air cools, the scent tends to read more clearly in the alleys. There is no set direction: you can start from via Garibaldi or from the eastern end, depending on where you are.
How to experience it
No tickets, no timetable: the diffusers stay active for the whole period, so the route can be walked whenever you like, even in stages. The advice is to walk slowly and let smell lead, noticing how the same signature — the scent of Genoa — shifts between a broad street and an alley. Anyone who wants to take the route’s trace home will find the same fragrance in the Genova diffuser.