Genova is the capital of the Liguria region. It is the most important harbour in Italy and one of the main harbours in the Mediterranean Sea.

The population of Genova is 609,822 (December 2009 update). The residents of foreign origin are 45,812 (7.5 % over total residents). In the last year this number increased of 3,068 people (+7.2%). At the end of 2009 there were more females than males in the population of foreign origin, and this trend has been stable since 2000. Now the largest community is the Ecuadorian community, being more than one-third of all residents of foreign origin. The average age of the residents of foreign origin is much lower (31,8 years) than the overall population average age. 14% of the children up to 5 years old in Genova are of foreign origin. In the last ten years the incidence of marriages between people of foreign origin on the total number of marriages has increased from 1.1% to 8.4% (percentage over total number of marriages). At the same time the percentage of mixed marriages has increased from 8.5% to 17.5% (percentage over total number of marriages).