It's the Italian city home to palaces so spectacular that they're UNESCO World Heritage sites. A city that was once home to so much wealth that the local aristocracy lived in environments literally fit for a king, and the place where Rubens began his great artistic career.

Rome? Florence? The Grand Canal-facing palaces of Venice? Nope: Genoa. Seen by many as "just" a port city -- one whose approach by water is often marred by ugly postwar urban development and the sprawling port itself, which stretches nearly 14 miles along the waterfront -- the capital of Liguria is in fact one of Italy's most spectacular cities.