Royal Palace Museum

Genoa’s Royal Palace is one of the most beautiful buildings in Italy. An extraordinary construction which has preserved its interiors intact, complete with original furniture, superb furnishings, the finest works of art.

The collections of the  house-museum includes reminders of the noble families who built and lived there, furnishing and renovating it over the centuries. The original owners, the Balbi, were responsible for the acquisition of seventeenth-century masterpieces which are still present in the sumptuous rooms of the Grand Piano Nobile; many subsequent developments are thanks to the Durazzo, enlightened patrons who rendered the palace magnificent in the eighteenth century; while the final changes by which it became a royal palace is due to the Savoia, the history of the transformation of the building is still fully legible today.

As rarely happens, the residence passed from one patrician family to another, surviving wars and, managing to preserve centuries of history. The great paintings including masterpieces by Veronese and Van Dyck, but also the furnishings with precious pieces of cabinetry, bear witness to the lives of its ancient owners.

But not only: the visit, today as in the past for those embarked on the Grand Tour, is also a journey into the history of the city and its wealth, presenting proof of how it was transformed into beauty: the Gallery of Mirrors tells of the infallible taste of the Genoese, of their cosmopolitanism, of the close and intense relationships with markets, residences and artists from the rest of Europe.

The visit to the interiors - with its collections of sculptures, paintings, marbles and precious fabrics, gilded wood and crystal chandeliers - and of the exteriors - the hanging garden and terraces - the visitor lives both grand or more intimate atmospheres and enjoys unforgettable views of the port.