Public lifts in Genoa are genuine pieces of the city transport network, not sightseeing gimmicks. The most useful ones for visitors are the Castelletto Levante lift from Piazza Portello to Spianata Castelletto, the Zecca-Righi funicular for the hills and forts, and the unusual Montegalletto lift near Genova Piazza Principe. Each can turn a steep climb into a ride of a few minutes.
That matters because Genoa elevators and funiculars use AMT public-transport tickets, but not every ticket works on every line. The cheap lift-only fare, for example, does not cover Zecca-Righi. Entrances can also be surprisingly discreet, sometimes tucked inside tunnels or ordinary-looking buildings rather than standing prominently in a square.
The three vertical shortcuts most visitors actually need
Castelletto Levante: the easiest way to Spianata Castelletto
If you want the classic view across Genoa’s slate roofs, old town and port, this is the lift to remember. Ascensore Castelletto Levante runs between Piazza Portello in the centre and Spianata Castelletto, also known as Belvedere Montaldo.
The lower entrance is easy to miss if you are expecting a normal elevator shaft. Go to Piazza Portello and look for the AMT signs for Ascensore Castelletto Levante. The entrance leads into a corridor cut into the hillside before you reach the lift. From the Via Garibaldi area, you can approach through Piazza Fontane Marose and continue to Piazza Portello.
At the top, you emerge directly at the panoramic terrace. This is far more useful than simply following a walking map uphill, which may send you onto steep salite, stairways or the brick-paved lanes known locally as creuze.
AMT currently lists Castelletto Levante as operating every day from 06:40 until midnight. Check the official AMT elevator page before relying on the last ride, especially during public holidays or periods of maintenance.
Castelletto Ponente: useful backup, less obvious entrance
A second public lift reaches the same Spianata Castelletto area. Ascensore Castelletto Ponente starts inside Galleria Garibaldi, the tunnel between Piazza Portello and Largo Zecca, rather than from an open square.
For a first visit, Levante is usually the simpler choice because the lower entrance is easier to explain and the upper station has the famous historic character. Ponente becomes very handy if you are already near Largo Zecca or if Levante is temporarily unavailable. Its published operating hours are also 06:40 to midnight every day.
Zecca-Righi: the one to take for the hills
The Funicolare Zecca-Righi is a proper inclined railway rather than a short lift. The lower terminus is at Largo Zecca, on the Via Targa side. Signs may simply say Funicolare Zecca-Righi or Righi.
The full journey to Righi takes about 12 minutes and climbs nearly 280 metres. Between the two termini are Carbonara, San Nicolò, Madonnetta, Preve and San Simone. For most tourists, however, the decision is simple: stay on to Righi if you want the high ground, views or the start of walks towards Genoa’s historic fortifications.
AMT lists the line as running every day from 06:40 to midnight. The service is scheduled rather than continuously moving like an elevator, so arriving at the platform does not necessarily mean an immediate departure.
One ticket detail causes unnecessary mistakes here: the €1.20 lift ticket is not valid on Zecca-Righi. Use a normal AMT urban ticket or another pass that specifically includes the line.
Montegalletto: the strange lift near Genova Piazza Principe
The Ascensore Montegalletto, also called the Castello D’Albertis lift, is particularly useful if you are near Genova Piazza Principe railway station or Via Balbi.
The lower station is on Via Balbi, close to Principe. The upper station opens onto Corso Dogali, opposite Castello D’Albertis. Do not be surprised by what happens after boarding. The cabin first travels horizontally through a tunnel, then transfers into the vertical lift system and rises up the hill. You stay in the same cabin.
It is both useful transport and one of Genoa’s more unusual pieces of engineering, but its hours are shorter than Castelletto’s. AMT currently gives approximately 07:10 to 19:50 on weekdays and 07:15 to 20:55 on holidays. If you go uphill late in the afternoon, check how you intend to come back down rather than assuming the lift runs until midnight.
What about the Sant’Anna funicular?
Normally, Funicolare Sant’Anna makes a very useful two-minute connection between Piazza Portello and Corso Magenta, near Via Bertani. Its normal timetable runs from around 07:00 until 00:30.
There is an important temporary exception in 2026. As of August 23, 2026, Sant’Anna is closed for its mandatory five-year technical inspection. AMT suspended service from July 13 and originally estimated the work at about two and a half months. You can follow the official Sant’Anna closure notice for reopening information.
While it is closed, AMT recommends the Castelletto Levante lift or bus 36 for travel between the centre and the Circonvallazione a Monte area. Do not follow an older itinerary that tells you simply to walk to Sant’Anna and board.
Which AMT ticket should you buy?
The ticket system makes more sense once you separate the short public lifts from the longer hillside railways.
- One AMT elevator only: the current €1.20 ticket covers one journey on an AMT public elevator. When Sant’Anna is operating, it also covers one journey there.
- Zecca-Righi: use the normal €2 AMT ticket, currently valid for 110 minutes, or another network pass valid on the urban system.
- Several short lift rides: AMT sells a €4 four-ride ticket that can be used on the elevators and Sant’Anna. It is not the ticket for Zecca-Righi.
- Several buses, metro rides and vertical trips: a normal timed ticket, the five-hour ticket or MetDaily can make more sense than repeatedly buying lift-only tickets.
Current fares and ticket combinations can change, so check AMT’s official ticket list rather than relying on an old screenshot.
Buy and validate before you ride
These may look like municipal elevators, but AMT treats them as impianti speciali, special public-transport installations. You need a valid ticket before entering the system.
- Buy first. The AMT app, ticket machines and authorised sales points are safer options than assuming every small lift entrance will have the payment method you want.
- Validate at the beginning of the journey. Follow the validator instructions before boarding or as you enter the installation.
- For a digital ticket, complete the purchase or activation before entering. AMT’s rules specifically require electronic tickets to be successfully received before accessing an elevator or funicular.
- Keep the ticket after leaving the cabin. Inspectors can check tickets within AMT premises and around the exit.
Genoa is introducing newer red electronic validators that can read QR-code tickets and, in some locations, sell the standard €2 ticket by contactless card. Do not assume contactless purchase is available at every hillside lift. Having the AMT app or a ticket already prepared removes that particular bit of Italian-transport suspense.
The Italian signs that help
A few words make these routes much easier to recognise:
- Ascensore: elevator or lift.
- Funicolare: funicular railway.
- Cremagliera: rack railway.
- Stazione: station.
- Capolinea: terminus.
- Monte: uphill direction.
- Fuori servizio: out of service.
- Servizio sospeso: service suspended.
- Bus sostitutivo: replacement bus.
Searching maps by the exact Italian transport name often works better than typing something vague such as “elevator to viewpoint.”
The Granarolo rack railway is worth knowing about too
The Cremagliera Principe-Granarolo is technically neither an elevator nor a funicular. It is a historic rack railway, but it serves the same basic purpose: getting people up a very steep Genoese hillside.
The lower terminus is beside the Genova Piazza Principe railway area, facing towards the Stazione Marittima side, and the line climbs through several small hillside stops to Granarolo. Some intermediate stations open onto steep stairways rather than normal streets, so this is not a line where you should automatically hop off because a stop name looks interesting.
AMT currently lists service from 06:00 to midnight Monday to Saturday and 08:00 to 21:00 on Sundays and public holidays. A regular urban ticket works here; the €1.20 elevator ticket does not.
Using the lifts with luggage
A suitcase is not a reason to avoid these routes. In fact, using a public lift can be considerably kinder than dragging luggage up Genoa’s stone steps.
Under AMT’s current rules for the special installations, one personal bag up to 85 × 75 × 40 cm and 20 kg can be carried free. An additional smaller item up to 20 × 40 × 55 cm requires an additional ticket. If you have only smaller suitcases or packages under 20 × 40 × 55 cm, up to two per passenger can be carried free under the stated rules.
Keep bags beside you and clear of the doors. Backpacks should be taken off your shoulders in crowded cabins. Large groups arriving with several full-size cases may need to split between cabins rather than trying to squeeze everyone into one trip.
Montegalletto is particularly convenient for luggage if your destination is uphill from Via Balbi or near Castello D’Albertis. Castelletto is useful if your accommodation is around the upper Circonvallazione area. Neither should be treated as a goods lift for oversized baggage.
If you are fitting Genoa into a larger rail trip and want to keep transfers, walking sections and hotel locations in one place, you can build your Italy itinerary before deciding which uphill connection makes sense with your bags.
Strollers and children
AMT permits one stroller per child free of charge on these special services. On the elevators and Zecca-Righi, the standard rule allows one open stroller per cabin; staff may allow additional open strollers if space and crowding permit.
That makes Castelletto’s lifts especially useful for families. The alternative pedestrian approaches to the viewpoint can involve steep slopes and steps, so following the lift signs is usually more practical than blindly accepting the shortest walking route shown by a phone.
Wheelchairs and reduced mobility
Several of Genoa’s public lifts are specifically listed by AMT as wheelchair accessible, including Castelletto Levante, Castelletto Ponente and Montegalletto, along with the Manin, Crocco and Quezzi lifts.
Zecca-Righi needs more care. AMT states that Madonnetta station is not accessible because of barriers outside the installation and internal steps. At San Nicolò, wheelchair passengers need the specially equipped car number 2, with its operating times displayed at the stations.
Do not assume that every structure called an ascensore automatically gives a completely step-free journey. For example, AMT identifies accessibility problems at some of its other neighbourhood lifts. Check the operator’s accessibility information if the lift is essential rather than merely convenient.
What to do when an elevator or funicular is closed
Maintenance interruptions are not unusual. These are working transport installations subject to inspections, mechanical maintenance and weather-related restrictions.
If the doors are locked or a display shows fuori servizio, first check AMT’s current notices rather than assuming you are at the wrong entrance. For the larger hillside routes, replacement services have their own line codes. Zecca-Righi can use replacement buses labelled F1 or F2; the Granarolo rack railway uses G1 during certain suspensions.
For Castelletto, having both Levante and Ponente in mind gives you a useful fallback because they serve the same upper viewpoint area from different lower entrances. During the current Sant’Anna closure, Castelletto Levante and bus 36 are the practical alternatives.
Allow extra time if a vertical connection is essential for a train, museum reservation or hotel check-in. A five-minute lift ride can be replaced by a substantially longer uphill bus journey when an installation stops unexpectedly.
Late evening, Sundays and holidays
Do not assume all the vertical lines share one timetable. Castelletto Levante, Castelletto Ponente and Zecca-Righi normally run until around midnight, while Montegalletto finishes much earlier. Granarolo also closes earlier on Sundays and public holidays.
Major holidays can bring special schedules that differ from the normal Sunday pattern. If you are travelling on Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, 1 May or another major holiday, check AMT’s dated service notice rather than relying on the regular timetable.
This matters particularly when you travel uphill for dinner. Taking a convenient lift up at 19:00 does not guarantee the same installation will still be running when you want to return.
Do not confuse the AMT lifts with the Bigo
The tall Bigo panoramic lift at Porto Antico is a visitor attraction designed by Renzo Piano. It rises above the harbour for the view and returns passengers to the same area. It is not an AMT transport shortcut and requires its own attraction ticket.
The public elevators do something quite different: you enter at one street level and emerge somewhere genuinely useful higher up the city. That is the trick to understanding vertical Genoa. Look at where you want to finish, find the nearest ascensore, funicolare or cremagliera, and check the AMT status before committing yourself to the stairs.