Disappointment. If you don’t read Italian and your primary objectives are those outlined below, don’t visit here and pay the bloated entry unless you’re a highly motivated maritime enthusiast. I suspect most foreign tourists, the kind that don’t speak Italian, show up to learn two related things: "What is the history of the Port of Genoa, and how does Columbus tie in?" That seems like the basics. Galata Museo del Mare fails resoundingly in telling this story. At least in English. Museum presents itself as a world-class institution, but the large portion of greatest appeal to foreigners has almost no English. This is the exposition, the crucial setup, where they present old maps and pictures of Christopher Columbus. There’s lots of top-level narrative but only in Italian. The important story we came for is inaccessible. Other parts of museum sporadically, inconsistently, minimally offer English translations. Over and over I found topics & artifacts of interest, but descriptions are only in Italian. Museum seeks to broaden its audience with peripheral topics like a 1956 shipwreck, Italian migration, their 1976 Italian submarine. They’ve spent money on theatrics and experiential storytelling. That’s great. But it’s not what most foreigners come for. Museum neglects core mission insofar as they seek foreign audience. Hopefully curators revisit this choice and invest some of the money lavishly spent on other exhibits to make English a first-class citizen throughout. VISITED: 19 Nov 2021, 17 euro/person entry fee.

If you enjoy maritime history and exhibits, put the Galata Museo del Mare on your list of things to do in Genoa. Five floors of interesting exhibits across hundreds of years related to sailing and shipping over the seas. Kind staff, great panoramic views from the top floor, and though I was solo on my visit, this would be a good experience for families as well. Only challenge I had was, with my limited and lacking Italian language skills, I didn't get to fully engage with several of the exhibits that were in Italian only. Fortunately there is Google Translate to help out.

Awesome museum with stunning exhibition spread out across multiple floors as well as submarine tour (definitely recommend unless you suffer from claustrophobia). Stunning observation deck with nice port and town overview. Within walking distance to the town centre. Plenty of interactive boards as well.

If you like history then this WWII submarine is a nice addition to your stops, added attraction is the good restaurants near the sub.

Spectacular exhibition! Really great collection of models worked out to the smallest detail. Also impressive experience to step into full-size parts of historical ships reconstructed inside of museum and incorporated in tour. And for sure you’ll be excited with simulators of ship and submarine! Cherries on the cake: access to rooftop with panoramic view if Genoa and visit to real submarine parked nearby. Recommended for all! (I only wish that museum will replace glaring glass to proper one so models can be seen in all details they have)

Lovely experience. You can try it, you will find many interesting things about Genova's history. See the photos 😀

Nice museum also for kids. It's quite big, so reserve at least 2 hours. Amazing views from the rooftop. And you can visit a real submarine too.

Brilliant museum with so much to see! Definitely bring kids to see the ships and climb down to a submarine. Museum is very looked after and Genovese people take a lot of pride in it. Definitely visit the emigration floor (4) also to see life on the ship and climb to the very top for a panoramic view of the city! Definitely worth a visit!

We bought the Genova museum card which gives 24h access to many museums. Unfortunately no way near all... Which they don't do a lot to tell you about. For example this museum was included - but just not the submarine - which they wanted additional 6 EUR/person for... (Didn't buy) In my opinion, this is not reasonable and ruins the supposedly good deal with the museum card. Regarding this museum, there was too little info in English to make it interesting. Woman at counter did nothing to make it a good experience and never informed about any audio guide etc. Several interesting points about navigation was impossible to understand as only Italian. The emigration part was good - you learned about the trip conditions etc.

The museum is spread over 5 floors. In the, partly historical, areas of the building, the exhibitions are sorted according to different eras and topics. The rooms are detailed and lovingly designed and are a work of art in themselves. So you walk through authentic interiors of ships, through Brazilian huts, through a submarine and much more. Two huge, faithful replicas of ships can be freely explored. The display cases and exhibits are very authentically staged. There are also sub-action options in some areas. Unfortunately, the multilingualism of all the information conveyed in the museum fails. A guide for non-Italian speakers would be helpful. Online, the information in some rooms can be displayed in different languages. For children under 4 years the museum is only conditionally suitable, since they find only few Possibilities of interaction for their age group, besides the entrance to the submarine in the port (in the ticket included) for children under 4 years is not allowed. Once at the top, you can enjoy the view over Genoa and the harbor from the panoramic terrace.

A beautiful place where you can learn a lot about the history of Genova and the people that lived and built it. You can learn also about the history of the Italian immigrants during the 20'. The museum is really nice and clean, it wasn't crowded when I went as it was near closing time, be careful as the souvenir shop is closing earlier that the museum itself. I highly recommend the Submarine tour

A big and good museum. The maritime museum offers a good overview of Genova’s naval and maritime activities from the late middle ages to now. The have several life size ships inside the building that you can walk through, which is impressive, especially the medieval galley. They provide much information, but not always with a translation of the Italian. A special treat is the visit to the submarine nearby, which is amazing. There is an interesting part on emigration and immigration. Some floors have special exhibitions. The top floor offers a wonderful view of the city with some indications of important structures. If you would find the museum a bit too big, because the entire visit can take a few hours, you can always skip parts.

Interesting. I thought it had enough English for me, but I can see why some people complain about only the Italian for a lot of it. I still found it enjoyable, but maybe a bit high priced for 17 Euro. The front staff were extremely nice to me. Lots of interesting things to see and the history of Genoa and boats are interesting enough for a few hour visit.

Really nice museum for Maritime, ships all about sailing history. There is an actual submarine you can enter and that is a great experience

It was a bit boring ,the kids didn't have fun there. Prices are too high for what is available. A lot of paintings without lighting to see as it should. The submarine does not take more than 5 minutes to visit, but it is nice to see inside it once in a lifetime. My children are 3 and 6 years old and I find it is not for their age because they are not having fun.

We went on a Tuesday afternoon and were almost the only people inside the whole museum. After spending time in the busy town this was a nice and quiet "break". The museum is on several floors and in my opinion it gets more and more interesting with each floor with a nice view on the highest level. At the beginning you get exactly what you would expect: models of ships, information about the history of the port of Genova and so on. It was a bit disappointing that there were almost no explanations in English. But there were some beautiful paintings and interesting information about immigration as well as the impressive submarine. We think that it's worth visiting if you're interested in maritime topics but there are certainly more interesting things to do in Genova if you are only spending a day or two.

First floor is well organized and offers a coherent historical narration of explorations and ships and docks development. Then it starts to mix objects and content from different historical contexts, lacks describing the innovations, and at the end it becomes just a collection of paints and ship models

Very large museum with lots of information but not all of it in English. If you like boats and history this is for you. You also get to go into a submarine

Really nice museum, showcasing the glorious past of Genua across many centuries. Great exposition about Cristoforo Colombo. If you have a passion for navigation and boats, you will love this place

If you are specially interested in navigation, maps and map-making, then this is the place for you. The building is of interest, a well-restored old arsenal. There are in particular two recreated ships, one huge. They have a kids trail. One of two gripes: there is a lot of interesting information to read but only a minor proportion is in English -- I felt I had missed a lot. The cafe near the entrance is really poor.

Das beste Museum in Genua für eine Familie mit Kindern. Ein Unterseebot kann bestiegen und besichtigt werden, mehrere Räume sind der Andrea Doria gewidmet, Kinder und Erwachsene können sich als Navigatoren eines Schiffes bestätigen. Unbedingt besuchen, wir haben uns einen ganten Tag amüsiert. Unser Sohn fand es ganz, ganz toll.

Definitely worth the cost of the ticket!! Five floors of exposition and a great view on the museum roof. It has plenty of interactive activities,quite unusual in Italy. They are great as well. You have a simulator for driving boats and submarines. The museum drives you during the naval evolution giving and hints of the seamans during the different historic periods. The immigration section should be a mandatory visit for all children.

We did not suceced to visit the museum because of a fire false alarm. But the personal from the museum manage the situation very good and thanks to Francesco we receive our money back quickly. Thumbs up for the personal

A place to eat and meet friends enjoying their wide variety of seafoods, grilled meat, and steak, as well as soups and desserts.

Photo in this review is of artist Angelo Toffoletto. Really loved that refractory pattern of the sea. The museum merits a visit. Extremely rich and diverse with a strong emphasis on human experience. Loved the two sides of migration: outward and inward. Great atonement.

Huge museum. Very interesting. Recommend. Also go inside the submarine - buy the biglietto intero. I bought mine from Tiqets. I arrived earlier than the time booked but lady at ticket office said booking is not according to any time frame and let us in.

A truly fantastic day out! If you're spending time in Genoa, I highly recommend a visit to this museum. As an English speaking guest, I found it a bit difficult to understand most of the detailed descriptions of artefacts on display (since all are written in Italian). There are some QR codes dotted around to access a translated version of the displays (there is free WiFi at this museum!). PRO TIP: Download the Google Translate app to your phone! Use this to automatically translate descriptions and live translate conversations into your desired language (to fully understand the interactive videos on the upper floors). BEST BITS: Visit the interactive "Immigration to America" to experience what it was like for millions of Italians migrating to the USA. You can grab a free passport and travel documents at the beginning of this exhibit on the 3rd floor. Take a tour inside a real submarine! The S518 Nazario Sauro is docked in the harbour directly outside the museum. You'll be given a hard-hat and a hairnet at reception at the end of your tour around the museum (just show them your ticket for entry). You can also collect audio guides from this location. Ticket prices (for museum and submarine visit 2022): Adults: 19€ Concessions: 17€ Children from 4-12yrs 14€ (Please note children under 3 cannot go inside the submarine) You can also buy tickets for only the museum at a cheaper rate (prices between 13€ to 8€)

Very interesting museum to visit. Tears of joy as my great grandfather left from Genova to immigrate to Brazil in the 1920's , so it was very touching to me to see how all the process went through for him. It was a very emotional experience for me. If not at least for the historical aspect of it. I also liked the written letters by Christophe Colombus, who was originally from Genova.

I like maritime museums, they’re a quick way of learning the history of a city & culture. We came in knowing little about Genoa, we left impressed & wanting to learn more. The museum is laid out well so it’s fairly easy to navigate. It’s not overly large, so you won’t get museum-fatigue. Some exhibits are dusty & looking a bit forlorn, others were obviously sponsored by a corporation & quite spiffy. Did we wish there were more placards in English? Sure. But no matter, there was enough to get the gist. Definitely definitely go up to the roof, sit & soak in the view

The museum had alot of artifacts and had a well laid out route to walk. Some items translated into English but not alot. Inside the submarine was interesting, you are issued a hard hat and hair net from the museum reception. There is a photo oppertunity from inside the submarine you can purchase from the shop.