The “Golden Age” of the Genoese aristocracy.
The “Golden Age” of Genoa, as historian Fernand Braudel aptly puts it, began in the mid-16th century, when the bankruptcy of King Philip II of Spain effectively replaced the state’s creditors and brought Genoese bankers to the fore. This was preceded by almost a century of development of financial institutions: the first banks appeared in the city as early as the beginning of the fourteenth century and became a revolution in the economic life of Europe. As well as investing in expeditions to the New World and lending money to European monarchs, republican figures invested heavily in the arts, on a par with the more famous patrons of the Medici and Borgia dynasties.
Genoa became a popular workplace for many Flemish artists, and influential merchants did not skimp on building and decorating their residences, which are now the jewels of the historic part of the city. However, the second “Golden Age” heralded the imminent final decline. This was mainly due to the weakening of the Spanish monarchs, who had been a regular clientele, and the emergence of new financial and commercial centres.
The former splendour of Genoa is vividly evidenced by the fashionable palaces with luxurious interiors and palace halls on Via Garibaldi and Via Balbi, built in the 16th century for the successful Genoese elite.
In 2006, forty palaces were included in the UNESCO Golden Book of Cultural Heritage. Today, the Red and White Palaces house art galleries. The Tursi Palace houses the municipality. The palaces of the Doria, Spinola, Pallavicino, Grimaldi and Lercari families are home to major banks.
Palazzo Reale – this house so well captures the spirit of the family that lived there that it seems as if it is still inhabited. The Royal Palace was built in the seventeenth century for the Balbi family. It was then taken over by the influential Durazzo family, nine of whose descendants were Doges of the Genoese Republic. In 1824 the palace became the residence of the kings of Savoy. This made the house more respectable: the interior was changed and expensive furniture was added. A hundred years later, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy gave Palazzo Reale to the state. The Royal Palace in Genoa was badly damaged by bombing during the Second World War. But the Italians quickly rebuilt it, and therefore it is open to all comers. A visitor to the museum can enter the Throne Hall, Ballroom, Hall of Mirrors. See various sculptures, elegant chandeliers, luxurious furniture of XVII-XVIII centuries. – All this gives an inexpressible appearance to the palace. In one of the galleries there are paintings by famous artists. Among them are the works of Genoese masters Luca Giordano, Antonis van Dyck and Ferdinand Voet. In the hanging garden there are exotic flowers and plants, pebble paths with animals made of pebbles. The royal terrace offers a magnificent view of Genoa and the bay.
A visit to the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata will leave you feeling more like a palace than a church. Numerous columns of the rarest coral-red marble and a lacy gold vault painted by local craftsmen bear vivid testimony to the opulence of Genoa’s Golden Age.
