Palazzo ducale di Genova
Office, since 1339, of the first Genoese Doge Simon Boccanegra, the palace was founded in 1291 thank's to the fusion among Abbot's Palace with adjoining Palazzo Fieschi and Grimaldi Tower. The acquisition of neighboring properties and the creation of a square, closed in the mid '400 by a curtain for the palace guard, expands the complex that will find unity in the draft of Vannone (1590): an imposing building centered on a large atrium combines two arcaded courtyards and through a solemn staircase leads to the Chapel, the apartment of the Doge and the salons of the Major and Minor Council. These, destroyed by fire in 1777, are reconstructed in an innovative way by Simone Cantoni. The curtain is pulled down with the opening of Via S. Lorenzo, in 1850, designed by Gardella, while the tower and underground continue to be used as a prison. In 1929-35, Grosso restores the facade of Cantoni, backs to the medieval period the oldest part of the building and frees the courts from the nineteenth-century, buildings placing in direct communication with the lower courtyard Piazza De Ferrari, which attests a prospectus painted architecture. The restoration of 1992 reassembles heterogeneous spaces of the building, which became the "Seat of Culture", maintaining the mixture of medieval, sixteenth century, neoclassical and neo-medieval elements. In the underground, cisterns are visible like the Hall of Munizioniere, discovered during archaeological excavations; while the new steel spiral staircase is in direct relation with the terraces and Grimaldina.
