Province of Genoa

The Province of Genoa (It. Provincia di Genova) was a province in the Liguria region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Genoa. It was replaced by Metropolitan City of Genoa.

Overview
It has an area of 1838 km2 and a total population of about 0.9 million (2009). There are 67 communes in the Metropolitan City of Genoa.

Named after a mythical two-headed Greek God, Janus, protector of ships. The name derives from a Ligurian tribal word, for "knee" (genu), or the Latin name for gate, "janua". The city is set at the foot of mountains in the Gulf of Genoa at the most northerly end of the Tyrrhenian Sea, where at one time it ruled the maritime world. Genoa has fine examples of Baroque Church and Palace architecture.

History
Genoa had been an independent republic for many years, and when Napoleon became Emperor and King of Italy in 1800, it became part of the French Empire. When Napoleon was defeated in 1814, it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. At that time Genoa was the most important port and trading centre in Italy.

The Province of Genoa was established in 1859 by decree and was established on 1 March 1860. The first chairman was Antonio Caveri, a lawyer. It was subdivided into five districts, Levante, Chiavari, Genoa, Savona and Albenga, which largely corresponded to previous divisions of the Republic of Genoa, which had broken up after Napoleon's Italian campaign. King Vittorio Emanuele II approved the province's coat of arms in 1875 and they were amended in 1933 by the Fascist Government by the addition of fasces.

Municipalities
Below is a list of the ten municipalities of the province sorted by number of inhabitants at 31 December 2010:
 * Most populated municipalities