page_title: Maddalena (Genoa)
section_title: Piazza Caricamento and Sottoripa porches
hierarchical_section_title: Maddalena (Genoa) / Architecture / Piazza Caricamento and Sottoripa porches
context_page_description: Maddalena is a neighbourhood in the old town of the Italian city of Genoa. It was one of the six sestieri of ancient Genoa. At present it is part of the Genoa's city Municipio I.
  Located close to the old harbour it had been for many centuries the seat of the economical power of the city.
context_section_description: Piazza Caricamento was opened in the middle of the 19th century as the terminal railway station used for loading (in Italian "caricamento") goods landed in the port. Many vintage pictures show the square full of wagons waiting for loading or unloading goods.
  In the Middle Ages this area was occupied by the port quays and the sea came to lap the porch of Sottoripa, now facing the square. At the square center there is a bronze statue of Raffaele Rubattino, one of the main Italian shipowners, work of Augusto Rivalta (1889).
  Sottoripa is a colonnaded street on the upstream border of the square, but it is much older than this.
  The porches were built between 1125 and 1133 and they were at that time directly overlooking the harbour. The porches are about 300 m long and occupy the entire sea front of the neighbourhood. Sottoripa means "below the bank", because the porticos foundations were literally below the level of the sea. 
  Under the porches there were shops, workshops and fondachi, warehouses to store goods.
caption: Detail of Sottoripa porches
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