We all stick to habits we have developed while growing up. I doesn't matter if those routines are not appropriate anymore. We also describe things mostly only as we have been told to call them.

Genova, an Italian harbour city was once a city state, an independent republic based on maritime trade. 700 years later, it is just a forgotten provincial town of little relevance, besides tonnage. Genova decline is still on. Its population, which reached more than 817.000 people in 1971, totals now to 586.000. It shrunk 28% according to 2016 Istat data.

People perception and customs sometimes don't quite follow reality changes. Most of us just keep on repeating the past. Even when past conditions are not here anymore. We call it tradition and it's perceived as safer than striving for better. Because it always worked like that, we tend to suppose it will always will.

People from Genova still live "la Dolce Vita". And they're still very "Superb" about it. But la dolce vita, the sweet life, what is it? Here, today it has the decadent sounds of separation, stubbornness, solitude. See for yourself...

Genova, located in a natural bay facing south in the north part of the Mediterranean sea, is and old city grown around his lighthouse.

Literally "here we live well".

"Protected by our medieval origin, read steepness of the mountains that compose the region, all we have to do now is enjoy life"

Since 1971, Genova has lost more than a quarter of inhabitants, while it is still the major Italian port with 51.6 million tonnes of traffic yearly in 2013.

Kids are few. People have no time for them. People don't see value in having children here. When they arrive, kids are raised to be diligent taxi customers, used to buckle up and be quiet since young age. Rely on dogs for companionship. Learn that!

Packing up homes was convenient when hostile vessels assaults where an everyday possibility. Easier to defend the town. Perched between steep mountains and the Med sea, this coast is no easy land.

Locals are mostly elders and retired.

Youth and outdoor lovers have plenty of cheap summer fun. The sea still play a big role in people lives here. It's really easily accessible.

Efficiency is not from here. Can have it only if you can afford it. Add a decent percent, you know, 'cos it has to be imported from...

Most people must just put up with a simple life. Learn to do without. Cut my hair like a Calciatore, a soccer player. What else to do...

Dance a bit...

Find some time to go paddle, hoping the recent oil leak from some broken inland refinery pipe, which ended up in the sea, had been digested already...

Read or ride your home made wooden dinghy sail boat...

Enjoy some exotic details...

And mostly do time on your own. Pretend you went fishing...

Sometimes it looks like a sad life, even if it's actually pretty good, at least for those who are set.

Fact is, that problems don't go away by simply ignoring them. Resisting is what they have always done here, like their speciality, alongside with Pesto.

Most people lock themselves up and worry. And that's really, nothing new.

What is this ship bringing this time? They wont know. Goods are just landing and transiting to richer markets destinations, past the mountains, north of here.