National Galleries of Palazzo Spinola, Art museum in historic center, Genoa, Italy.
Palazzo Spinola is an art museum housed in a 16th-century palace in central Genoa, displaying paintings and decorative arts across four stories. The collection includes works by major Italian and European masters along with regional pieces that once belonged to Genoese noble families.
Francesco Grimaldi built the palace at the end of the 16th century on medieval structures; in 1650 Tommaso Grimaldi sold it to his brother-in-law Ansaldo Pallavicino, the only sale in its history. Maddalena Doria, wife of doge Nicolò Spinola, acquired it in 1734 and commissioned the Rococo second piano nobile with its Galleria degli Specchi. In 1958 the last owners, marquises Paolo and Franco Spinola, donated it to the Italian state as a public museum.
The palace takes its name from the Spinola family, who shaped the art collection and lived here for generations. Visitors can see how the rooms remain furnished with valuable paintings and fine decorative objects that show the tastes of Genoese nobility.
The palace stands at Piazza di Pellicceria 1, in the dense medieval grid of Genoa's historic centre, where narrow shopping lanes surround it. The two original piani nobili keep their 17th- and 18th-century appearance, while the top floors were rebuilt after Allied bombing in World War II. A roof terrace gives a view over the city.
The third floor holds a specialized collection of works acquired by the Italian state following the Spinola family donation. This section reveals how the public collection expanded over time through purchases, offering a fuller picture of the region's art history.
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