The station derives its name from the adjacent Piazza del Principe (In
Italian literally "plaza of the prince"), located next to the Palazzo del Principe (literally "palace of the prince") adjacent to the street called Via Andrea Doria in the Fassolo neighbourhood. The small goods yard, which was the core of the original station, occupies the area between Piazza del Principe, Via Andrea Doria and Piazza Acquaverde, where the main entrance is situated. Foreigners often call the station
Genova Porta Principe, perhaps confused by the names of stations in other cities, such as
Milano Porta Garibaldi and
Torino Porta Nuova. Note that there was once a gate in the medieval city walls called
Porta San Tommaso (and sometimes called
Porta Principe) where the steps to the Piazza Principe Metro station are now located and where some remains of the walls can still be seen. It was demolished in the nineteenth century. The original station was designed by architect Alexander Mazzucchetti and construction began in 1853 and was completed and inaugurated in 1860. The original building had a single-span steel and glass roof, covering ten platforms and buildings for arrivals, departures and transiting passengers. At the time of the official inauguration of the Turin-Genoa railway in February 1854 only a temporary station had been opened. In 1872, with the opening of the tunnel directly connecting with Brignole station, through platforms were added on the north of the original station. Until the 1960s the terminal platforms were used for passenger trains, mainly for local services to and from the west and north. Since then all passenger trains have operated on the eleven through tracks, while the terminal tracks are now used for the storage of wagons and locomotives. In 1900, an increase in rail traffic led to the building of an extension of the station to a design by the engineer Giacomo Radini Tedeschi. ==Today==