Doge's Palace (Genoa)

The Doge's Palace (Italian: Palazzo Ducale) is a historical building in Genoa, northwest Italy.

Once the home of the doges of Genoa, it is now a museum and a centre for cultural events and arts exhibitions. It is situated in the heart of the city, with two different entrances and façades, the main one on Piazza Giacomo Matteotti, and the second one on Piazza De Ferrari.

The construction of the Doge's Palace began at the end of the 13th century, when Genoa was gradually consolidating its military and economic power in the Mediterranean. At that time the city was organized according as the "Compagna Communis" (the official name of the Republic in the time), which provided for the appointment of the Capitano del popolo, as the head of state of Genoa. Until 1291, however, the highest officials and other representatives of the Municipality did not have their own headquarters but were housed in the Archbishop's Palace, or in nearby private homes belonging to the Doria and Fieschi families.

In 1291 the "Capitani del popolo" Corrado Doria and Oberto Spinola bought the buildings owned by the Doria family, and three years later the adjacent palace of Alberto Fieschi was also purchased, equipped with a tower later called "Grimaldina", already used as a seat by the Capitani del popolo since 1272 due to the exile of Fieschi. The merger led to the construction of the abbots' palace.

The palace, which with the appointment in 1339 of the first Genoese doge Simone Boccanegra had taken the name of "ducale", underwent a series of transformations starting from the second half of the 14th century at the behest of the Doge Antoniotto Adorno. The building was enlarged with the addition of new buildings to the east, to form a sort of "C" around today's Piazza Umberto I, and to the north, to occupy a space corresponding to the current central body of the palace. The interventions wanted by Adorno did not change the main access to the building, which continued to be maintained on the Tommaso Reggio street.

Text adapted from “Doge's Palace, Genoa” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Doge's Palace (Genoa) ranks #795 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #58 of the 452 mapped in Italy. Founded 1783, it is older than 15% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 525 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 4,887 times in the last 60 days, more than 84% of the atlas. 9 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Italy compares in the castle statistics.

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