Genoa, Pallavicino Foundation opens, based in one of the Rolli. It will be directed by Vittorio Sgarbi

Tomorrow, July 4, 2019, a new cultural institute, the Pallavicino Foundation, opens in Genoa: it is a nonprofit organization that will be based in Palazzo P allavicino (or Palazzo Interiano Pallavicino), one of the Rolli palaces, which overlooks the central Fontane Marose square. The artistic direction has been entrusted to Vittorio Sgarbi while Domenico Pallavicino will serve as president, and the purpose of the newly formed foundation is to protect and present to the public the memory of the Pallavicino family, an ancient Genoese dynasty whose main branch, between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, gave the Republic as many as three doges. The public will therefore be able to visit the halls of the palace, where works by artists such as Bernardo Strozzi, Anton Maria Maragliano, Simone Cantarini, Vittorio Corcos, Giuseppe Zuccarelli and many others are preserved, and learn about the history of one of the most illustrious families in the city’s history.

The palace, also known as Palazzo Paolo and Nicolò Interiano or, as mentioned above, Palazzo Interiano Pallavicino (the Interiano family were in fact the first owners as well as the commissioners of the building: they had it built between 1565 and 1567, entrusting the project to the architect Francesco Casella), is one of the best known and most imposing of the Rolli system (it appears, moreover, in all the ancient lists of the Rolli), and the great Rubens also spoke of it in his collection on Genoese palaces. In the past it was also owned by other families: the Negrone, the Centurione, and the Grimaldi. One of the characteristic features of the palace is its facade, entirely painted by Lazzaro and Pantaleo Calvi with an iconographic program aimed at celebrating the figure of Nicolò Interiano, who had also been governor of the republic (on the facade, next to the large windows, one can admire depictions of the four cardinal virtues, namely Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude).

“The palaces belonging to the ancient and noble Genoese families,” said Genoa City Council Culture Councillor Barbara Grosso, “are often rich in works of art: treasures that must be safeguarded, preserved and enhanced, including by exposing them to the public. And this is precisely the purpose of the Pallavicino Foundation, which promotes the dissemination of the memory of the Genoese family of the same name, one of the oldest feudal families in northern Italy that gave prestige to our city. The opening of Palazzo Pallavicino, with its stable collections and the proposal of two or three annual exhibitions of ancient art also of Genoese interest in the Palazzo’s exhibition halls or in other institutional venues, may represent a virtuous example of synergy between public and private, to implement the city’s cultural offerings for the benefit of Genoese people and tourists.”

In the photo: one of the rooms of Palazzo Pallavicino

Genoa, Pallavicino Foundation opens, based in one of the Rolli. It will be directed by Vittorio Sgarbi

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