Description of the attraction
Palazzo Bianco - White Palace - one of the main buildings in the historic center of Genoa. It is located at 11 Via Garibaldi, formerly called Strada Nuova ("new road"). Inside the Palazzo there is an art gallery - one of the best in the city, and the palace itself, together with the adjacent Palazzo Rosso and Palazzo Doria Tursi, is part of the so-called "museum cluster" that occupies the end of Via Garibaldi.
The luxurious building of the palace was built between 1530 and 1540 for Luca Grimaldi, a member of one of the most powerful families in Genoa. In 1658, the Palazzo passed into the possession of the De Franchi family, and in 1711 Federico De Franchi, heir to a noble family, gave it to Maria Durazzo Brignole-Sale, his main creditor. In 1714-1716, the new owners carried out a large-scale reconstruction of the palace, rebuilding it in accordance with the fashion of the time. It was then that it got its name - White Palace - from the color of the facade decorations. Another restoration of the building took place after the end of the Second World War.
In 1889, Maria Brignole-Sale, Duchess of Galliera, the last member of an influential family, bequeathed the Palazzo to the people of Genoa, thus predetermining its transformation into a public gallery. At the same time, collections for the future gallery began to be collected even before this event - the first exhibits were acquired in 1887.
Today in the gallery of Palazzo Bianco you can see the works of European artists of the 12-17 centuries, primarily the creations of masters from Genoa, Flemish, France and Spain. Art from the 13th to 16th centuries is represented by paintings by Barnaba da Modena, Ludovico Brea and Luca Cambiaso. Works by Paolo Veronese and Filippino Lippi occupy a special place in the gallery's collections. Dutch and Flemish painters of the 16-18 centuries are represented by Rubens (Venus and Mars) and Van Dyck (Vertummo and Pomona). From the Spanish artists, Zurbaran, Murillo and Ribeira were chosen. Finally, the gallery also features sculptures and frescoes from various museums in Europe.
