24 hours in Genoa, Italy

This former maritime power has much to boast about: birthplace of world navigator Christopher Columbus, home to the prison from which Marco Polo dictated accounts of his travels, Italy’s first football team, and inventors of pesto.

Genoa’s topography, nestled between mountains and sea, means that the city is blessed with temperate weather all year round and, with direct two hour flights from the UK, it’s the perfect escape for those in search of history, culture and hearty Italian fare, any time of the year.

Following a large-scale regeneration project in the early 1990s, the old port or Porto Antico is now an oasis of waterfront restaurants and bars, complete with a panoramic lift, a tropical rainforest biosphere and Europe’s largest Aquarium.