The palazzo Giacomo Spinola or palazzo Giacomo Spinola di Luccoli is a building located in Piazza delle Fontane Marose at number 6 in
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
, included on 13 July 2006 in the list of the 42 palaces inscribed in the
Rolli di Genova
Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which includes a number of streets and palaces in the center of Genoa, in Northwestern Italy.
* The ''Strade Nuove'' (Italian for "New Streets") are a ...
that became
World Heritage
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
on that date. The palace is now home to the
Banco di Sardegna
Banco may refer to:
Places
* Banc (Barcelona Metro), also called Banco, a closed metro stop on the Barcelona metro
* Banco, Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Banco, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Banco National Park, a nation ...
.
History and description
Built for Giacomo Spinola between 1445 and 1459 on already built plots, it is present in all the
rolli; between the years 1576 and 1595 it belongs to Antonio Spinola Marmari but it reaches its highest position in 1614 with Giovanni Battista Spinola di Tomaso, man of letters and doge of the Republic of Genoa in 1613—1615. At the beginning of the 19th century it belongs to the
Spinola Spinola is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Agostino Spinola (d. 1537), Italian cardinal
* Alberto Spinola (born 1943), Italian water polo player
* Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases (1569–1630), Genoese banker an ...
.
Situated on the Piazza di Luccoli, in the 13th century, a marginal but strategic location because it is close to the Porta di Santa Caterina (St. Catherine's Gate), it has a
façade
A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'.
In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...
with two-coloured bands and niches with marble
statues
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...
of illustrious family members, three of which (the first, second and fourth from the left) were executed by Domenico Gagini da Bissone.
[Cfr. Clario Di Fabio, «Nascita e rinascita della statuaria celebrativa laica a Genova fra Tre e Quattrocento. Opizzino, Giacomo Spinola di Luccoli e la parte di Domenico Gagini», in Medioevo: i committenti, I convegni di Parma, 13, atti (Parma, 21–25 September 2010), edited by Arturo Carlo Quintavalle, Milan, Electa, 2011, 623—641.] In the
16th century
The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582).
The 16th cent ...
, in addition to the replacement of the four-light windows to create new windows, the block was expanded with a revenue house on Via di San Sebastiano.
In the mid-19th century,
bas-relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
panels were imposed by the municipality to disguise the stretching of the shops downwards: a transformation of the façade produced first by the general levelling of the carriageway, from the Acquaverde to the
Acquasola, with partial demolition of the upper piazza of the Spinola family (1816—1818 circa), then required by the later junctions of the new via
Carlo Felice
Charles Felix (; 6 April 1765 – 27 April 1831) was the Duke of Savoy, Piedmont, Aosta and King of Sardinia from 1821 to 1831.
Early life
Charles Felix was born in Turin as the eleventh child and fifth son born to Victor Amadeus III of ...
(
1832
Events
January–March
* January 6 – Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison founds the New-England Anti-Slavery Society.
* January 13 – The Christmas Rebellion of slaves is brought to an end in Jamaica, after the island's white plan ...
circa) with the old levels of the piazza.
[Poleggi Ennio e Poleggi Fiorella (Presentazione, ricerca iconografica e note a cura di), ''Descrizione della città di Genova da un anonimo del 1818'', Genova, Sagep, 1969 pag. 215]
After the unlawful demolition to modernise the windows in 1903, architects Alfredo D'Andrade and Marco Aurelio Crotta built the
polyphora on the
piano nobile
The ''piano nobile'' (Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ''bel étage'') is the principal floor of a palazzo. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the hou ...
, which had already been replaced with rectangular openings for centuries, just as the interior had been significantly altered in the staircase (16th century).
Equally heavy were the works at the end of the 19th century, introduced by the Migone property to reduce the palazzo to a rented house, to the point of multiplying old false ceilings masking the original wooden ceiling of the hall, on brackets bearing the Spinola family's coat of arms, which is now restored by a recovery project sponsored by the
Banco di Sardegna
Banco may refer to:
Places
* Banc (Barcelona Metro), also called Banco, a closed metro stop on the Barcelona metro
* Banco, Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Banco, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Banco National Park, a nation ...
to house offices and an agency.
Picture Gallery
File:PalazzoGiacomoSpinola.jpg, Palazzo Giacomo Spinola
File:PalazzoGiacomoSpinola2.jpg, One of the marble statues
File:PalazzoGiacomoSpinola3.jpg, One of the marble statues on the second floor
Notes
Sources
Italian sources
* ''Guida ai palazzi dei Rolli di Genova'', a cura di A. M. Parodi, Genova, Banca Carige, 2007.
* Alizeri Federico, Guida illustrativa del cittadino e del forastiero per la città di Genova e sue adiacenze, Bologna, Forni Editore, 1972 pag. 229
* Poleggi Ennio e Poleggi Fiorella (Presentazione, ricerca iconografica e note a cura di), Descrizione della città di Genova da un anonimo del 1818, Genova, Sagep, 1969 pag. 215
External links
Sito Palazzi dei Rolli di GenovaPalazzo Spinola dei marmiIl Palazzo dei Marmi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palazzo Giacomo Spinola
Palaces in Genoa
World Heritage Sites in Italy