Italy · 16th century
The Villa del Principe, Palazzo del Principe, or Palace of Andrea Doria in Fassolo is one of the main historical suburban villas of Genoa, Italy. It was built in the 16th century in an area that is now located in the city center, but at the time of the construction of the villa was just outside of the city walls towards Capo di Faro and the Lanterna.
The villa was intended as the private residence of the Genoese admiral Andrea Doria, Prince of Melfi, who often hosted emperors, kings and other foreign authorities. The villa was nonetheless never officially listed as a Palazzo dei Rolli of the Republic of Genova as it was a suburban villa and not an urban palace.
From his residence, Andrea Doria was able to exert a strong political influence on the city, while staying away from the Doge's Palace and the often-treacherous political life of the Republic.
The villa is considered one of the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance. The interior, recently restored, is decorated with frescoes, stuccoes, tapestries and historical wooden furniture. Particularly noteworthy are Perino del Vaga's frescoes in the Salone dei Giganti and in the Loggia degli Eroi (1533), and the Flemish tapestries portraying the Battle of Lepanto (1571).
It still belongs to the Doria Pamphili family and it is open to the public as a museum.
Text adapted from “Villa del Principe” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Villa del Principe ranks #2,300 of 9,035 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #173 of the 555 mapped in Italy. Founded c. 1550, it is older than 36% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 886 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,057 times in the last 60 days, more than 70% of the atlas. Wikidata records about 19,000 visitors in 2022. 19 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Italy compares in the castle statistics.
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