The Crusades

A common thread ties Genoa to the Holy Land, the Middle East, the Black Sea, and the Land of the Rising Sun. Their participation in the First Crusade and the capture of Jerusalem allowed the Genoese to found their colonies in the Mediterranean. Ships sailed into the harbor laden with goods and riches from the cities of Acre, Trabzon, Constantinople, and the Greek islands. Genoese merchants financed the erection of imposing buildings, as well as dwellings whose towers seemed to pierce the sky, not to mention a spacious Ripa, whose shop-lined porticoes overflowed with goods and merchandise. The city’s churches bore vestiges of ancient Rome and housed devotional articles from the Orient.