Exterior view

The Palazzo Doria-Tursi was erected beginning in 1565 by Domenico and Giovanni Ponsello for Niccolò Grimaldi, called “the Monarch” for the number of aristocratic titles he could boast and the countless debts King Philip II owed him, given that he was the king’s banker. It is the most majestic building on the street and the only one erected on three lots of land, with two vast gardens enclosing the main body of the building. The spacious loggias facing the street were added in 1597, when the building became the property of Giovanni Andrea Doria who bought it for his cadet son, Carlo, Duke of Tursi, hence the building’s current name.

Domenico and Giovanni collaborated on the monumental palace built on the Strada Nuova (now Via Garibaldi), Genoa. Documents indicate that Giovanni designed the palazzo while Domenico oversaw building operations. The first part of the scheme involved the placing of terraces into a steep hillside (height 12 m) rising from the street towards San Francesco a Castelletto (destroyed). The palazzo was conceived in scenographic terms and was influenced by Giovanni’s earlier work at the Villa Imperiale Scassi (c. 1560) at San Pier d’Arena. From the large entrance vestibule a staircase ascends through a screen of Doric columns to a light-filled courtyard. This is completely surrounded by a two-tier loggia articulated with Doric and Ionic columns. The colonnades with their dramatic play of light and shade act as an open circulation system for the different levels of the palazzo. At the end of the courtyard an open T-shaped double-ramped staircase rises through two floors to a garden entrance (destroyed) into San Francesco. This perspective staircase design adapted ideas from contemporary and early 16th-century Spanish open hall staircases.

The fa�ade is characterized by the alternation of various-hued materials: pink stone from Finale Ligure, gray-black slate, and white Carrara marble. The fa�ade bears two overlaying orders. The raised level above the large plinth bears alternating windows with their original design. Mascarons with animal-like grimaces surmount the windows on both levels. The majestic marble portal is crowned with Genoa’s coat-of-arms.

A particularly innovative feature is the unique and ingenious architectural solution, which, through the building’s successive interior spaces (the atrium, stairs, rectangular raised courtyard with respect to the portico, and double-flight staircase) creates a marvelous interplay of light and perspective.

The building constitutes the culmination of the magnificence of Genoese domestic architecture. Since 1848 it has been the seat of the Genoese municipality.

View the ground plan and section of Palazzo Doria-Tursi, Genoa.