DOCSAI

The DOCSAI centre is located in the annexes of the Palazzo Rosso, the least visible of the three buildings of the complex constructed for the Brignole-Sale family between the 17th and 18th century. Indeed, it does not overlook the Via Garibaldi, but the back alleys; the acquisition of the entire block was meant for its consolidation with the adjacent building, to enlarge its two residential apartments.
The new spaces realised at the level of the second main floor were first decorated with frescoes by Gregorio De Ferrari, now destroyed, and then by his son Lorenzo and Domenico Parodi. The walls of the existing houses on the lower floors of the annexes were not demolished, as they had to act as support for restructuring the upper floors.
What remains untouched is the vaulted atrium from the 16th-17th century at the level of the Vico San Pasquale, paved with bricks in a herringbone pattern and a marble newel column, as well as a large hall (about 25x20ft) – which hosts the reading room of the library – topped by an outstanding wooden coffered ceiling from the mid-15th century, with its original painted decoration with intertwining, geometric and calligraphic motifs of a dark red, ochre and blue, that covers the entire structure and is an appropriate complement to that environment.

The DOCSAI Centre (Documentation Center for the History, Art and Image) of Genoa consists of three sections:
- Art History Library
- Cartographic and Topographical Collections
- The Photo Archive and GenovaFotografia