Villa del Principe

This Renaissance Villa del Principe was built for Andrea Doria, the great admiral of Charles V, at the beginning of the 16th century. The villa, built in the area of Fassolo, just outside the city walls to the west, was seat of the only true “court” of the Genoese Republic.

It is still the property of his descendants who have decided to use the monumental parts as a museum. The visit, through a succession of richly decorated and furnished rooms, allows you to relive the glories of both the Doria family and of the Republic itself.

The large sixteenth-century building is surrounded by a large scenic Italian garden overlooking the sea which once directly connected to the port.

The museum's rooms hold wonderful works of art, resulting from commissions by members of the family who lived for centuries in this superb 16th-century Villa.

Andrea Doria established a kind of Renaissance court which included such first-rate artists as Girolamo da Treviso, il Beccafumi, Silvio Corsini. To Perin del Vaga, a pupil of Raffaello and a leading figure of the art scene in Rome in the years preceding the Sack of Rome (1527), was commissioned the decoration of some interiors.

Andrea's heir, Giovanni Andrea I Doria, added new works of art to the Palazzo, which was extended to twice its original size. The Villa was subsequently home for nearly five centuries to successive generations of the Doria Pamphilj family, who amassed paintings, tapestries and fine furniture within its splendid sixteenth-century rooms.