Before you come to Liguria you should know some very essential key-words that help you to move in Liguria without difficulties. There are some words in Ligurian dialect and in the Italian language that will make your stay much easier. Let’s know them!
Carruggio – (pronounce: ka’rud3io) this is a word that I’ve mentioned many times before on this blog. It means a narrow, pedestrian street of the old towns in Liguria. You can find caruggio in every medieval town centre. What is more, it is so important for Ligurian people that exists even an expression with carruggio! It says “vieni nel mio carruggio” translated “come in my caruggio” and it means “you understand me“.
Vicolo – it is carruggio but in the Italian language 🙂 After the unification of Italy (1861) also in Liguria was decided to start using the words in the unificated language. That means that vicolo/carruggio is the same thing. As a curiosity I tell you that the most narrow vicolo of Genoa (probably it is the most narrow vicolo because there is no official list 😉 ) is vico delle Monachette, that is only 79 cm large !!!
Salita – that means “rise” … it is an official name of some streets … so when you see that your hotel is located on “salita” you have to be prepared to climb a hill. Often salita is an official, Italian name of Ligurian crêuze.
Crêuza – (pronounce: kreuza) it is a pedestrian rise. They were charted on the slopes of the hills around the old town centres. They lead to the houses that were built outside of the medieval towns. The crêuza that leads to the quarters that are located close to the sea is called crêuze de mä that in Ligurian dialect means “path on the sea”.
One of the most important Genoa’s singers, Fabrizio de Andrè wrote a song titled “Crêuza de mä“. This song is very beautiful and very popular in Italy 🙂
What else should you know when you see a Ligurian address?
Via – means “street” no other indications … neither if it is large nor narrow, neither if it is rise nor descent … a street and that’s all 🙂
Corso – means “avenue” … so you can be sure it will be large and it will one of the most important streets in town.
Addresses in Genoa
The addresses in Genoa are very specific. Here you can find BLACK and RED numbers (you will see the black and the red numbers on the buildings and in the address description the red one have “R” … that means ROSSO/RED). A little bit messy isn’t it? But in reality, it is very easy! The red ones are the numbers of commercial activities like shops, offices, banks. The black ones are private houses. The black and red numeration are totally independent so you will see different numbers on the same building.
Now, with all this information no Ligurian address will be mysterious for you:)
