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The city has a population of about 608,000, the urban zone has a population of 718,896 and polycentric metropolitan area has a population of 859,000. It is also called la Superba ("the Superb one") due to its glorious past. Part of the old city of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List (UNESCO) in 2006 (see below). The city's rich art, music, gastronomy, architecture and history, made it 2004's EU Capital of Culture. Genoa, which forms the southern corner of the Milan-Turin-Genoa industrial triangle of north-west Italy, is one of the country’s major economic centres. With a GDP of 15.08 billion Euros, or 1.3% of the national total, the city ranked fifth in Italy for economic strength in the year 2000: after Rome (6.45%), Milan (4.74%), Turin (2.19%) and Naples (1.51%), and ahead of Bologna (1.01%), Florence (1.00%) and Palermo (0.94%). The Bank of Saint George, one of the oldest in the world, was founded here in 1407 and played an important role in the city’s prosperity from the middle of the 15th century. Today a number of leading Italian companies are based in the city, including Fincantieri, Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo STS and Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone. |