Italy Travel And Hotel Guide

When newly prefabricated fortunes encouraged Genoa’s merchant bankers to move out of the cramped old town in the mid-sixteenth century, artisans’ houses were pulled down to make way for the Strada Nuova, later titled Via Garibaldi , on the northern fringe of the quarter. To achievement along the surprisingly narrow street is to stroll through a Renaissance architect’s drawing pad - sculpted facades, stucco work and medallions decorate the exterior of the three-storey palazzi , while the big courtyards are almost like private squares. Take a look, for instance, at no. 7, the heavily stuccoed Palazzo Podestà , with its grotto and fountain on the far side of its small courtyard, or the splendid Palazzo Tursi , a few doors along, the largest of Genoa’s palaces and now the town hall, with a glassed-in main courtyard that is the street’s most impressive. The first building at the western end of Via Garibaldi is the Galleria di Palazzo Bianco , Genoa’s finest art room (Tues, Thurs & Fri 9am-1pm, Wed & Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 10am-6pm; L6000/¬3.10; joint ticket with Palazzo Rosso L10,000/¬5.16; free on Sun; www.comune.genova.it/musei ). In room 1 a small but potent image of San Fabiano hangs alongside a strikingly similar portrait of San Antonio; the former is by Francesco Brea, the latter by his father Antonio Brea, both Genoese. At the top of the stairs is a radiant SS Sebastian, Francis and John the Baptist by Fra’ Filippo Lippi, but most rooms on the upper floor are filled with Flemish works. Room 4 holds a Madonna and Child by Joos van Cleve and a dark, brooding Christ by Hans Memling, while room 6 has a gloriously detailed celebration of a Netherlandish winter by Jan Wildens, showing a woman tumbling immodestly on the cover and some poor character about to be pelted with snowballs while in the privy. The piercing gaze of Van Dyck’s Christ dominates room 7, despite Rubens’s ageing Venus and Mars cavorting bawdily nearby, while room 8 has some festive tavern scenes by Jan Steen. Room 9 holds Veronese’s giant Crucifixion , while next door is a dramatic Ecce Homo by Caravaggio. A surfeit of work by the Genoese painter Bernardo Strozzi completes the collection.

Across the road is the less prestigious Galleria di Palazzo Rosso (same times and prices). Room 2 has an effeminate St John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci and a striking Portrait of a Young Man by Dürer, but it’s the topmost floor that is the main attraction, with every room restored to its original Baroque grandeur and bedecked with chandeliers, mirrors and an excess of gilding. Frescoes cover the ceilings, while rooms 13 and 14 display a series of splendid portraits by Van Dyck of the Brignole-Sale family, who built the palace in 1671.

Tags: artisans, courtyards, facades, far side, finest art gallery, fortunes, garibaldi, grotto, medallions, merchant bankers, mid sixteenth century, northern fringe, old town, palaces, palazzi, palazzo bianco, renaissance architect, squares, strada, stucco work