San Benedetto al Porto, Roman Catholic church in San Teodoro district, Genoa, Italy.
San Benedetto al Porto, officially the Church of the Most Holy Trinity and Saint Benedict at the Port, has a gabled facade preceded by a three-arch portico with a triangular pediment. The interior is on a central plan ending in a semicircular apse, with a polychrome marble high altar and paintings by the Semino brothers and Benedetto Brandimarte.
A church dedicated to Saint Benedict with a Cistercian community is documented in 1129, the first Cistercian monastery in Genoa. The nuns left at the end of the 16th century, and in 1593 the Trinitarians, called by Zenobia del Carretto, took over. Rebuilt by Andrea Ceresola and Gaspare Corte between 1593 and 1617, it became the Doria family church, erected as a parish in 1596. The convent was demolished in 1928 for Via Adua.
The full name, Santissima Trinità e San Benedetto al Porto, joins the older Benedictine dedication to the Trinitarian one added when the order took over the complex in 1593. The Trinitarians, founded by John de Matha, who stayed in Genoa in 1201, worked for the ransom of slaves. The church was the private parish of the Doria family from a bull of Clement VIII in 1596.
The church stands in the San Teodoro district, a short walk from Piazza Principe railway station and the Doria Principe metro stop. The convent was demolished in 1928 for Via Adua, so the church now faces that street; the entrance portico with its three arches is the element to look for. The interior is a central plan, so the main altar and the side altars are all visible from the middle of the room.
The portico's iron grille between the arches was placed in 1593 by Giovanni Andrea Doria in memory of his wife Zenobia del Carretto, who had brought the Trinitarians to Genoa; tomb slabs under the arches also commemorate her. The columns and marble details are by Giovanni Battista Carlone.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,137 contributors worldwide.