This display is fitted in the style of a curiosity cabinet, or a "cabinet of wonders", in which extra-european specimens and artefacts are on display. Among these are samples of various flora, ethnographic materials, minerals and animal specimens, all of which document a past lack of distinction between the fields of natural sciences, geology, and anthropology. For example, we find whalebones, fragments of Chinese city walls, a dessicated platypus, a vial of sand from San Salvador, Micronesian dancing clubs, a Chinese pipe, a lotus flower from an Egyptian sarcophagus, an African ostrich egg, dervish human bones and much more, all of which has been rigorously transcribed and inventoried. 

Volume in which the Captain narrates his 1893 venture on board the cutter "Corsaro", in which he sailed Columbus' route using historically accurate reproductions of the nautical instruments used in Columbus' time.

The panel was found in 1506 near Isola (Pedemonte di Serra Riccò) by a farmer, Agostino Pedemonte, while he was clearing land on his property; immediately taken to Genoa to be sold, the bronze panel was bought by a boilermaker; but in his workshop a scholar, perhaps A. Giustiniani, pointed out the find and its importance to the city government, who bought it and saved it from imminent destruction. A decree of 1507 informs us that the panel was affixed in the cathedral of San Lorenzo, near the chapel of St. John the Baptist, at the behest of the French governor Rodolfo de Lannoy and the council of elders, who commissioned the sculptor Viscardi to make a white marble frame to hold it for the occasion. At a date not specified by any official document, the panel was transferred from the cathedral to the now defunct Palazzo dei Padri del Comune, near Palazzo S. Giorgio, where it remained until 1838 when, due to the demolition of the building, it was transferred to Palazzo Ducale, then the seat of the municipal offices, and deposited in the civic treasury safe. In 1850, when the offices were moved to Palazzo Tursi, the table also followed its fate and found its place in the room to the right of the old council, the current mayor's office. In 1908, with the establishment of the Civic Museum in Palazzo Bianco, the panel was transferred here and walled in with its 16th-century frame on the south wall of the Roman room, and again in 1929, it found another location in the Podestà's office. During the Second World War, the panel was placed in the municipal treasury and, at the end of the conflict, relocated with its 16th-century frame to the mayor's office. In 1978, on the occasion of its first restoration, it was again exhibited to the public for a brief period during the 'Restorations of Liguria' exhibition and it was then that it was decided, after much reflection, to seek a new and, this time definitive, location for the panel in the Museum of Ligurian Archaeology in Genoa-Pegli. Translation of the inscription: Quintus and Marcus Minucius Rufus, son of Quintus, regarding the dispute between Genuati and Viturii, made a reconnaissance of the land and in the presence of the disputants they settled the dispute and established according to which rules they should own lagro and where the border should pass. They ordered them to follow the border and set the terms and, having done so, to come to Rome in person. In Rome in their presence, they pronounced the sentence by senate-consultation on 15 December under the consulship of Lucius Caecilius son of Quintus and Quintus Mucilius son of Quintus. Where agro deprived of the castle of Viturii, they may sell it and bequeath it. This agro will not be subject to tax. Boundaries of the Langati's private agro. From the lower end of the brook springing from the spring in Mannicelo to the river Edo (here a term is placed); then up the river to the river Lemori and by the river Lemori up to the brook Comberanea, then by the brook Comberanea up to the Ceptiema valley (here two terms are placed, on either side of the Via Postumia). From these termini in a straight line to the rio Vindupale, from the rio Vindupale to the rio Neviasca, from the rio Neviasca down to the rio Porcobera, and from there down to the lower end of the rio Vinelasca (here a term is placed); up the Vinelasca river in a straight line, where a term is placed on this side of the Postojna Street, and another term on the other side of the street, from the term placed on the other side of the Postojna Street, in a straight line to the spring in Manicello, then down to the term placed by the Edo river. The boundaries of the public land that the Laganensi possess are as follows. The first term is at the confluence of the Edo and the Porcobera. From here by the Edo river up to the foot of Mount Lemurino (term), up in a straight line to the Lemurina coast (term), again by the Lemurina coast (a term is placed here on the mountain overlooking the hollow), then straight up the coast to the top of Mount Lemurino ( term), then straight up the coast to the castle that was called Aliano ( term), then straight up the coast to Mount Giovenzione ( term), then straight up the coast to the Apennine mountain that was called Boplo ( term); then up straight along the coast to Mount Tudelone ( term); then down straight along the coast to the Veraglasca river, at the foot of Mount Berigiema ( term), then up straight along the coast to Mount Prenicco ( term), then down straight to the Tulelasca river ( term), then up straight along the Blustiemela coast to Mount Claxelo ( term) then down to the Lebriemela spring ( term), then straight along the Eniseca rivulet to the Porcobera river ( term), then down the Porcobera river to the Edo- Porcobera confluence, where a term is placed. A lake that is declared public, the Laganensi Viturii inhabitants of the castle can possess and enjoy it. For this agro, the Laganensi Viturii will pay to the public treasury, in Genoa, 400 Victorian nummi each year. If the Laganensi do not pay this sum and do not meet the Genuati's debt, unless the Genuensi are late in collecting the sum, in which case the Laganensi must pay to the Treasury of Genoa, of all that will have been produced in the agro, 1/20 of the wheat and 1/6 of the wine each year. Whoever possesses (a farm) within these boundaries, Genuate or Viturio, on the date of 1 June of the Consulate of Lucius Caecilius and Quintus Mucilius, may continue to own and enjoy it. Such possessors shall pay the tax to the Langanensians according to their position, as well as the other Langanensians who possess and enjoy a farm in such agro. In addition to these possessions, no one shall possess except with the approval of the majority of the Langanensi Viturii and on condition that he does not take over, Genuate or Viturio, to cultivate. Whoever does not obey the opinion of the majority of the Langanensi Viturii shall not have or enjoy such agro. In the agro that shall be compascuo, let no one forbid or forcibly prevent the Genuate and Viturii from grazing their cattle, as in the rest of the compascuo Genuate agro; and let no one forbid them to gather wood and timber there and make use of it. The tax of the first year the Langanensi Viturii must pay it to the treasury of Genoa on 1 January of the following year. As far as the Laganensi have enjoyed before 1 January next year, they do not have to pay any tax if they do not want to. When, in the year of the consulship of Lucius Caecilius and Quintus Mucio, the meadows of the agro are about to be cut (the meadows of the public agro owned by the Viturii Langanesi, that owned by the Odiati, that owned by the Mentovini and that owned by the Cavaturini), no one may cut or graze on them without the consent of the Langanensi, the Odiati, the Dectumini, the Cavaturini and the Mentovini, each for their own agro. If the Langati, Odiati, Dectumini, Cavaturini and Mentovini prefer to build, fence, or cut other meadows in that agro, they may do so on condition that the total size of the meadows does not exceed that of the past summer. The Viturii who, in disputes with the Genuenseses have been judged or condemned for insults, if anyone is in prison for such reasons, the Genuenseses will have to release them and acquit them before next 15 June. If anything contained in this sentence seems iniquitous to anyone, let them turn to us, every first day of the month, and be freed from all disputes public burdens. The signing of the legates follows: Mocone Meticanio, son of Meticone. Plauco Pelianus, son of Pelion. Trad. G. Petracco Siccardi Bronze table of quadrangular shape.

The painting is the most famous of the works representing medieval Genoa. Copy of a lost fresco, which was to celebrate the completion of a monumental work of the extension of the Old Pier: which, together with the ancient lighthouse, occupies the central part of the painting. The port arch and the city fan out over it as a crown. Below a flotilla of galleys celebrate the return of Paolo Fregoso - cardinal and doge of Genoa - from Otranto, where he had participated in the expedition against the Turks who had besieged the city. The central part of the painting depicts Genoa's Old Pier together with the ancient lighthouse. It is surrounded by the port arch and the city that fans out around it. Below, a fleet of galleys celebrates the return of Paolo Fregoso – cardinal and doge of Genoa – from Otranto, where he had taken part in the expedition against the Turks who were besieging the city.

 

Anna Pamphilj, daughter of Olimpia Aldobrandini Borghese and Camillo di Valmontone, nephew of Pope Innocent X, married Giovanni Andrea III Doria Landi on 25 October 1671. The wedding was conducted in Rome and then celebrated with great pomp in Genoa. As was customary at the time, the betrothed couple had never met in person and for this reason, prior to the wedding, the Pamphilj family sent the future groom this portrait. The painting, attributed to Jacob Ferdinand Voet, an excellent late Baroque portrait artist, depicts the young woman in a highly realistic manner. Anna Pamphilj is wearing an elegant gown in the French style and in her hand she is holding a white lily, a symbol of purity.

 

 

The table in the Galleria Aurea is a piece of exceptional value and beauty. It is topped by a magnificent surface in Florentine mosaic, probably of Florentine or Roman craftsmanship. The technically flawless structure features a border of interwoven leaves and an alabaster centre depicting images of fish, birds, snakes and devils. The base of the table, more recent than the top, features four intertwined dolphins, and is attributed to sculptors from the school of Filippo Parodi, the artist who created the gilded wooden sculptures for the wedding of Giovanni Andrea III Doria and Anna Pamphilj (1671), which are now kept in the Villa del Principe museum.

 

 

Roldano the dog is the subject of a work painted by Aurelio Lomi, an artist from Pisa working in Genoa between 1597 and 1604, in which an elegant page is engaged in grooming the animal with a silver brush. The dog, a traditional symbol of loyalty, takes on great symbolic value in this painting. Roldano was given to Giovanni Andrea I by King Philip II in recognition of the Dorias’ loyalty to the Spanish crown. After his death, the Molossian hound was buried with great honour in the north garden of the Villa, no longer in existence.

 

 

At just seven years old, following the death of his father Giannettino, Giovanni Andrea I was named by Andrea Doria as his direct successor. In this portrait, painted between the late 16th and early 17th century, the Prince's heir is depicted at the age of about sixty, in the dress of the Knights of the Order of Saint James of the Sword. Behind him can be seen galleys engaged in battle, a clear reference to his rank of “general of the sea” for the king of Spain. In the foreground there is his Molossian hound Roldano, a gift from King Philip II in attestation of the Dorias’ loyalty to the Spanish crown. The portrait is probably the work of Alessandro Vaiani, a Florentine artist working in Genoa at the end of the 17th century, and originally belonged to the painting collection of the great collector Gio Carlo Doria.

 

The walls of the Salone del Naufragio at the Villa del Principe are decorated with six large tapestries depicting events relating to the Battle of Lepanto, the most important military event of the 16th century. In May of the year 1571, Pope Pius V established the Holy League, uniting the rival powers of Genoa and Venice, the Spain of Philip II and numerous lesser powers. The Holy League declared war on the Turks, and on 7 October 1571 fought them in the epic Battle of Lepanto, which saw the Christian fleet triumph over that of the Turks. The tapestry cycle was commissioned by Andrea’s nephew and successor, Giovanni Andrea I, who participated in the battle. The preparatory drawings for the tapestries were made by painters Luca Cambiaso and Lazzaro Calvi. Each tapestry in the series depicts a scene from the battle, from the departure of the Holy League for Lepanto up until the return of the victorious fleet to Corfu.