Italian architect. He is considered Genoa’s greatest Baroque architect. Born at Como, he was the designer of several palaces in Genoa, where he moved to follow his father, also an architect. His works include the building which is now the centrepiece of the University of Genoa, the Palazzo Balbi at Campomorone and the Palazzo Rocca at Chiavari.
He died in the second year of the two-year plague outbreak that halved the population of the city.
The palace was built between 1629 and 1635 at the behest of the local Marquis Costaguta who commissioned the project to the architect Bartolomeo Bianco. In 1760 the property passed to the Ranieri family, then to the Grimaldi family who enlarged its volumes and to the Pallavicini family.
The palace now houses the Museo Archeologico di Chiavari.
Bianco’s most accomplished structure is the present University, built as a Jesuit College along the Via Balbi (the street which he began in 1606 and opened in 1618). It presents an ensemble of incomparable splendour. For the first time he unified architecturally the vestibule and courtyard, in spite of their different levels; in the cortile he introduced two tiers of lofty arcades resting on twin columns; and at the far end he carried the staircase, dividing twice, to the whole height of the building
The photo shows the courtyard of the university.
View the section and ground plan of the University, Genoa.
Bianco’s most accomplished structure is the present University, built as a Jesuit College along the Via Balbi (the street which he began in 1606 and opened in 1618). It presents an ensemble of incomparable splendour. For the first time he unified architecturally the vestibule and courtyard, in spite of their different levels; in the cortile he introduced two tiers of lofty arcades resting on twin columns; and at the far end he carried the staircase, dividing twice, to the whole height of the building
The photo shows the courtyard of the university.
View the section and ground plan of the University, Genoa.
