Three rows of crenellated walls, a drawbridge, bartizans and ponds, artificial caves and waterfalls, as well as secret passages, false ruins, palm trees and exotic botanical species…A romantic garden frames the 19th-century Neo-Gothic castle and becomes a public park in its less rocky and more accessible areas, offering visitors a breathtaking view of the city.
Inside the park, the Sala Nautica (naval hall) in the Torre Rotonda (round tower), headquarters of the educational centre, offers workshops and activities for schools and families in a suggestive space that takes visitors on new explorations and readings on the world, such as those planned by Captain D’Albertis to new shores.
The secret underground passages and air routes between the towers can be visited during events and by appointment. At the entrance of the park, in the tunnel made by Captain D’Albertis, visitors can see the complaint against the mistreatment of children filed by the Terre des Hommes Italia through the mural El grito de los Excluidos by Ecuadorian master Pavel Egüez, realised with funding from Genoa - 2004 European City of Culture.
The 47-square-yard mural, which Egüez realised in collaboration with ceramist Guido Garbarino, is divided into two opposing sections, with very attractive street furniture features.
The "Cry of the Excluded" is the artistic expression of a protest campaign against all forms of social, economic, and racial exclusion, and in favour of the safeguard of fundamental human rights. Originally started in Latin America, the campaign now involves all excluded countries, that is to say, the poorest and disadvantaged countries in a globalised economy.
The first in Europe, Genoa’s mural addresses the rights of children, who are always the first victims of any form of exclusion. It has symbolically become one of the rings of the chain of public artworks realised in the cities of South America.