My Experience in Genoa

Why did you choose to go to Genoa, Italy?

I'd always wanted to go to Italy for my Erasmus, all of the places for going to Rome were full and Genoa was the place that most drew my attention for travelling out of the other three options.

How long is the scholarship? How much money do you receive to help you with living costs?

More or less 6 months, I couldn't apply for the Erasmus+ grant, because I didn't have a B2 level of Italian, so I applied for the European Union grant, which is a bit less, around €400 a month.

What is the student lifestyle like in Genoa?

It's great, for me, attending class wasn't obligatory so I could travel as much as I wanted or as much as I could. Also, the majority of my exams were oral and they're usually pretty lenient when they know that you're an Erasmus student. What's more, in my opinion, the level of academia there is a little bit lower than it is in Spain, since obviously all of the modules I studied there were relevant to my course, there was some overlap between what they gave me there and what I had already studied in Spain.

Would you recommend the city and the university of Genoa to other students?

Yes! It's a great city to come to for Erasmus.

What is the food like there?

It's incredible. The food in the whole of Italy, in general, is great. Genoa doesn't disappoint, besides the typical dishes of Genoa, like focaccia and pesto, will come to your rescue more than once.

Was it difficult to find accommodation in Genoa?

No, I was lucky in that I knew an Italian guy who had an estate agency and he helped me to find accommodation.

How much does it cost to live in Genoa?

The standard of living is very similar to that in Spain. I found that the food here was a bit more expensive than it is in Spain.

I think that the accommodation is a similar price here, personally my rent was very cheap, but, from what I've been told, people I knew paid €300 a month for a room in a shared flat.

Is the language difficult to get to grips with? Are there Italian courses available at the University of Genoa?

Being Spanish, Italian wasn't too difficult to get to grips with, especially if they speak to you slowly, but having some knowledge of the basics in Italian won't do you any harm. It's rare, almost impossible to find other Spanish or Hispanic people or people who have a Spanish partner.

I went on an Italian course that the university offered, it was free and it was a good way to get some of the basics in Italian and a way to start to get to know other Erasmus students.

What's the easiest or most economical way to travel to Genoa from your home city?

Coming from Madrid, your best options are going to Milan or Pisa, and then taking a train from there (there are buses too, but the bus stop is really far away from the airport and it isn't a good option if you have to get there with suitcases). Also, if you buy your train tickets in advance, it can end up being very cheap.

Personally, I flew from Madrid to Pisa, because it was the cheapest flight and you can take the city bus from Pisa airport to the train station, and it ended up being pretty cheap. If you're going to Milan, as well as there being a train, you have to pay for a bus trip to get to Bergamo, which is where the low-cost Milan airport is, to get to Milano Centrale and it costs about €5.

And to eat in Genoa? What are some of your favourite places to go?

There's a burger restaurant called Il Masseto, their burgers, especially the masseto burger, are really good, and you get a discount with the ESN card and, if I remember correctly, a burger will cost you €3. 50, in some cases less than €4. There's a pizzeria that I never learned the real name of, but I think that it was Revecca or something like that, because that's the street it's on, near the Porta Soprana, everyone knew it as Pino.

And my favourite place to eat in Genoa is Cavour 21, it's a very small place in the port, it's a typical place that, if it hadn't been recommended to me, I would never have gone into. It's a very, very small trattoria as I said, actually the first time that I went, I have to share a table with people that I didn't know, but at any rate it's really worth going to. The food is really good and it's incredibly cheap, it seems too good to be true, but it is true!

Those are my star places, but there are also a lot of focaccia and gelato places that are amazing.

There's good food almost everywhere, but these are the places that I went back to over and over again and that I would go back to a thousand times.

What good cultural sites are there to visit?

Genao is a very interesting city, there are a lot of things to see, the port, Piazza Ferrari, Via Garibaldi, Castelletto, Boccadasse, the huge cemetery, Nunziata, the cathedral, the palaces...

Also the location of Genoa is very practical for travelling around northern Italy, you can go to Verona, Venice, Florence, Milan, Pisa... There are also some beautiful places that are very close to Genoa, for example, the first trip the ESN took us on was to Cinque Terre and we explored four of the five towns in one day.

There's a bus company called Flixbus, that sells super cheap tickets, sometimes even for just €1 and you can go to these places and to others like Rome, Naples... or to towns that you haven't heard of, but at that price, you can go on adventures to discover them.

Also, since it's close to Milan, you can look for some cheap plane tickets (there are a lot of them) and go on a trip outside of Italy.

Do you have any advice for students coming to Genoa in the future?

Enjoy yourself a lot, because, unfortunately, your Erasmus will come to an end and it won't come around again no matter how much you miss it.

Travel as much as possible, any excuse is a good reason to go wherever you want and to be in Italy and to not make the most of would be unforgivable.

Be careful with your documentation, I know of people who got their purse stolen and it's a huge pain in the neck.

Be careful with the traffic, the Italian stereotype is that they aren't very good drivers and it's not actually too far from the truth.

Be very patient with the paperwork, it's tedious and slow, they usually say that it's the worst thing about being on Erasmus and that is actually the case, so I'll give you some encouragement and don't let yourself get disheartened.

The most important thing and I'll say it again Enjoy yourself and travel a lot!