Sampierdarena (also San Pier d'Arena; Ligurian: San Pè d'ænn-a) is a major port and industrial area of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, in northwest Italy. With San Teodoro it forms the West Central (Centro Ovest) ''

municipio ' (, ) and ' () are country subdivisions in Italy and several Hispanophone and Lusophone nations, respectively. They are often translated as "municipality". In the English language, a municipality often is defined as relating to a single city or ...

''.

Geography

Sampierdarena lies on the coast about west of the centre of

. In 2000 the population was 67,741.

History

Sampierdarena was an ancient fishing village, named after the church of San Pietro d'Arena ("St. Peter of the Sand"). During the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

it became a residential area, with great palaces being built such as the Palazzo Imperiale Scassi, designed by

Domenico Domenico is an Italian given name for males and may refer to: People * Domenico Alfani, Italian painter * Domenico Allegri, Italian composer * Domenico Alvaro, Italian mobster * Domenico Ambrogi, Italian painter * Domenico Auria, Italian archit ...

and Giovanni Ponzello according to the style of

Galeazzo Alessi Galeazzo Alessi (1512 – 30 December 1572) was an Italian architect from Perugia, known throughout Europe for his distinctive style based on his enthusiasm for ancient architecture. He studied drawing for civil and military architecture under the ...

and for this reason believed in the past to be a work of Alessi himself and the Palazzo Spinola di San Pietro (whose designer is unknown), one of those drawn by the painter

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

in the book Palazzi di Genova, published in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

in 1622. After the coming of the railways (1854) it became one of the great industrial centres of Italy. Gio. Ansaldo & C. was one of the leading companies of the area involved in shipbuilding and armaments, before it was finally taken over by

Finmeccanica Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the eighth ...

in 1993. In 1926 the ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of Sampierdarena was absorbed by Greater Genoa, becoming in 1969 a ''delegazione'', and in 1978 a ''circoscrizione'' of the city. At present it is part of the Genoa's city Municipio II (Centro Ovest), together with the neighbourhood of San Teodoro. The 'Samp' in the name of Genoese football club

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

(and the unique striped bands across the kit) derives from local team Ginnastica Sampierdarenese, which merged with Società Andrea Doria in 1946.

Economy

Historically the area was dominated by heavy industry such as shipbuilding.

Geography

History

Economy

Notes and references

See also