Castello D'Albertis - Museum of World Cultures
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Castello D'Albertis - Museum of World Cultures
This unique house-museum offers an extraordinary opportunity to immerse oneself in the world of its creator, the Captain Enrico Alberto D’Albertis, who generously gifted it to the City of Genoa upon his death in 1932. Through his adventures across land and sea between the 19th and the 20th centuries, the Captain gathered stories and artefacts and brought them back to be housed in this romantic frame inspired by ‘curiosity cabinets’ and the colonial trophies commonly collected at the time. As documented by numerous construction drawings, the castle itself, built in the neo-gothic style, encapsulates the Captain’s deep love for the sea, his curiosity for the unknown and the unexplored, his fascination for the unfamiliar worlds he visited and, underneath it all, his deeply Genoese soul.
The museum’s collections, presented in a sequence of evocative alcoves furnished according to the “revival” style of the time, are composed of ethnographic and archaeological materials gathered by the Captain across five continents; to these are added those collected by the Captain’s cousin Luigi Maria, the first to explore the Fly river in New Guinea (1872-1878).
Entering the 16th-century bastion on which the castle stands, visitors can follow a route that takes them through further extra-European collections acquired by the city in the last century, including archaeological materials from Central and South America and ethnographic materials from Canada donated by the US Catholic Mission Association following the exposition for the Columbian celebrations of 1892. All these materials, displayed with a thoughtful, contemporary exhibition design, have been revisited and contextualised through a dialogue with their source communities.
Castello D'Albertis Museo delle Culture del Mondo is part of the DOORS - Digital Incubator of Museums network. DOORS has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101036071.
Top Ten
The Captain gathered extensive testimonies and materials from populations all over the world to form ethnographic and archaeological, nautical and photographic collections that join his extensive assortment of sundials.
The presence of neo-gothic design elements, rich with the influence of the Hispano-Moorish and “oriental” styles popular at the time, finds its pinnacle where hundreds of pieces (furnishings, pendants, arms, vases, couches, hookahs, lamps, and ostrich eggs, to name a few) peep out from under the curtained ceiling, all to create the effect of being in an “exotic” tent.
The Oceanic materials gathered by the Captain in Australia, Melanesia, and the Polynesian islands are joined by the important Mesoamerican (Aztec, Teotihuacan, Costa Rica) archaeological collections and by pieces from the Hopi tribe of Arizona. African weaponry from Sudan and Zambia, Chinese lances, and European halberds have been replaced in their original position, where they decorate the stairway joining the ground floor to the first floor.
Among the materials donated to the city during the Columbian celebrations of 1892, the artefacts from indigenous peoples of the Plains (US and Canada), clay and textile grave goods from pre-Hispanic South American civilisations, and Mayan fragments in volcanic tuff from the acropolis of Copán in Honduras are of particular anthropological importance.
The museum is also home to the Captain’s library and all its volumes, which include Ethiopian manuscripts in the Ge’ez language and works on Ceylon paper made from palm leaves.
Genova Museum Card
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Accessibility
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Visit route
The exhibition is based on different levels, connected via lifts and ramps.
Accessibility for wheelchair users
A wheelchair is available for use. Please ask a member of staff who will be able to assist.
The castle is fully accessible to disabled people.
Members of the staff may assist visitors using a wheelchair in finding the easiest route.
Toilets
There are accessible and equipped restrooms on the ground floor.
Parking for the disabled
By notifying the Museum you can park your car in the park.
Information
It is possible to reach the Museum also by public transport: at 50 m from the station of Genova Piazza Principe there is the comfortable and futuristic elevator of Montegalletto - Castello D'Albertis.
The crosswalk of via Dogali made accessible by a ramp allows disabled people, using the elevator of Montegalletto, to reach and visit the museum comfortably with the four-wheeled electric scooters of Mobility Service.
The panoramic terrace can be reached through a ramp that has a slope of more than 8% and develops for a length of more than 10 meters with no flat resting areas.
The park of the D'Albertis Castle is fully accessible and offers the opportunity to experience a green space in the heart of the city.
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The Museum also provides 10 media players and 7 tablets for an autonomous visit with audio, video and Italian Sign Language guides, as well as English, French and Spanish subtitles. Accessit European Project Link al sito Accessibitaly |
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Two tactile models are available for blind visitors: one allows the exploration of the museum and the park (1: 200 scale), while the other depicts the Museum in its urban context (1: 1000 scale). |
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Castello D'Albertis sign up to the project Museum for all realized by the Associazione l'abilità Onlus with the contribution of the De Agostini Foundation, to promote social inclusion and full access to culture for people with intellectual disabilities through paths and materials specific. The texts describing the museum were written with a group of disabled people who for years habitually frequented the Castle. It was a process of co-designing between the Museum and the Genoa Integration Cooperative under the ANFASS brand of Genoa. Scarica la guida Scarica gli incontri Scarica "Sensoriale" |
Tickets & cards
TICKETS
Discover the Genova Museum Card: visit all the museums in one day at the price of 15 €
Booking online (presale 1 €)
Individual Ticket Castello D'Albertis
regular price 6 €
reduced price 4,50 € from 5 to 12 years old, over 65 years old (EU citizens), agreement, visitors with disabilities
free admission children from 0 to 4 years old, people accompanying visitors with disabilities
Booking online (presale 1 €)
Reduced ticket to visit Castello d’Albertis and the first section of the exhibition “LA FORMA DEL VENTO. Il volo a vela e l’arte degli aquiloni nella tradizione giapponese” is applied to the holders of a Museo Chiossone’s entrance ticket
For complaints and returns download this form
In case of impossibility to visit the museum, you can request a refund of the entrance tickets (single, full or reduced, cards), including those purchased online. The refund request must be submitted within 15 days of the outage using this form.
Ticketone Sales Points
Tabaccheria 248 - Via Simone Pacoret de Saint Bon 1/R 16155 Genova
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Tabaccheria Giarelli - Via Paolo Giacometti 58/60 R 16143 Genova
Tabaccheria Tredici Bis di Galli Fabrizio - Piazzale Parenzo 23/R 16139 Genova
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