Genova or Genoa?

I was confused - why is the town sometimes called Genoa & at other times called Genova. So I asked the hotel receptionist who explained that the English call it Genoa & the Italians call it Genova. This is like many towns & cities in Italy - eg; Florence is called Firenze. This confused the hell out of me when trying to work out my itinerary on a map. But you kinda get use to it.