This is the Genoa most come to see. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the city was home to some of the wealthiest bankers and merchants in the world. Through financing European royalty – specifically Spain – and continuing the region’s traditions of mercantilism and shipbuilding, Genoa became one of the richest cities anywhere. Its elite lived in palaces – palazzos – that lined streets in both the old town and a new town that spread out beyond the medieval chaos. And many of those can still be seen today.

Golden Age Genoa had lists of these palaces. From the Italian word for the lists themselves (rolli) we have the UNESCO World Heritage Rolli Palaces, containing the surviving 42 of the original 163 palaces. Five of those are museums; the remainder are used for any number of other purposes: private apartments, commercial buildings, and even housing the University of Genoa’s law school.

But how did Genoa emerge from its dark period (click here to read about that) to not only regain the wealth from its founding (click here to read about the early Republic of Genoa) but surpass it, to accumulate such wealth as would allow for this massive number of palaces?

We left off our story in 1527, when Genoa regained its independence following periods of occupation by other powers. The following year, in 1528, Genoese bankers would make their first loan to Spanish Emperor Charles V, with whom the Republic had allied. This loan would finance Spain’s early New World colonies and their primary reason of existence: precious mineral extraction. It would be followed by other loans, and repaid in gold and silver taken from mines in Spain’s acquisitions in the Americas.

In fact, the loans were so important to Spain’s operations that it is said ships loaded with silver wouldn’t even unload in Spain, but rather sail on to Genoa, depositing the coins here. And so while Spain gained an empire, Genoa benefitted even more from the wealth of that empire, and the great aristocratic merchant and banking families of the city built palaces for themselves, establishing a veritable noble court – complete with attracting the greatest artists and architects in Europe – in the heart of the Republic.

(And yes, it goes without saying that the loans from Genoese banks, as well as the ships built here and crews provided with them, played major roles in the slave trading portion of Spanish empire-building. Just as Genoa hadn’t shied away from direct slave trading in the Black Sea via its Byzantine alliance, it did not seem to offer any resistance to the even more massive African slave trade. It is a stain on these families and the legacy of their beautiful palaces.)

Today, the five palace-museums are organized into two groups, with combined admissions. Along Via Garibaldi in Genoa’s Strada Nuova (new streets) just north of the old city are three of them, in combination known as the Strada Nuova Museums. The other two are a bit further apart, one being the Royal Palace on Via Balbi in the new area and the other Palazzo Spinola in the heart of the old city. The Strada Nuova Museums have a €9 entry, while the other two combine at €12.

Let’s start with the Strada Nuova Museums and the three palaces included with that admission: Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Bianco, and Palazzo Doria Tursi. (Palazzo Doria Tursi is only partially within the museums, with the majority of it being Genoa’s municipal building, and the entrance to the museum component is only through Palazzo Bianco, so we will sort of count those as one experience.)

These palaces were all built by the Grimaldi family (yes, that Grimaldi family that are the current rulers of Monaco), but changed hands several times as various wealthy elites moved in and out, and were all ultimately donated by the Brignole-Sale family to the city. The basic layout, though, is what we are most concerned with. The structure of the “average” Genoese palace included a central courtyard, and the alternating of principal floors (think formal rooms, high ceilings, etc…) with mezzanine floors (could be living spaces not seen by guests or more functional rooms like kitchens and servants quarters). And they are in various states of upkeep depending on how much damage they sustained during World War Two and when they were donated to the city.

Palazzo Rosso was divided into two (vertically) with two sons of owners after the Grimaldi each inheriting one principal floor and the mezzanine floor atop it. Today, the first principal floor is an art museum, with little surviving of its original decor, but it is the associated mezzanine that a future owner would inhabit since it was easier to pay for the smaller space.

The second principal floor is more palatial, with original or restored frescos, and monumental artworks, lining the walls of the high ceilinged formal rooms.

Such a system gives us glimpses into both how some of the elite of Golden Age Genoa would have lived, as well as into the challenges for their heirs in keeping palaces such as these in the centuries to come.

Across the street is Palazzo Bianco, the white palace. Like Palazzo Rosso, much of what is in Bianco – and its adjoining Palazzo Doria Tursi – is an art collection. But there are some stunning highlights, including the art of Flemish masters who came to the palaces of Genoa to ply their art via massive commissions.

Most notably, just before the exit via Palzzo Doria Tursi, you will find Il Cannone, the personal violin of the great Paganini, who donated his instrument to his city at his death.

If you are looking for less art and more historical furnishings, Palazzo Spinola (the primary palace in the other set of admissions) is the place for you. This one contains several floors dedicated to how the elite of Genoa would have lived during the latter part of the city’s Golden Age. Again originally built by the Grimaldi, it was purchased by the Doria family, and from there to a branch that married into the Spinola family, hence the name. Maddalena Doria Spinola renovated her home in the mid-18th century, and that is what you’ll see today.

Here, visitors can see what life in a palace would have been like – at least for its owners, as servants’ quarters are either not seen or haven’t been kept up. Lavish living and entertaining spaces, stunning commissioned artwork, personal religious altars (priests would do private masses for the families), and even a Hall of Mirrors can be seen via two principal floors.

And don’t miss the small exhibition of servant-carried private chaises the elite families would travel in so as not to have to associate directly with the masses.

Palazzo Spinola’s admission also includes the Palazzo Reale, the royal palace. Here, one apartment that was lived in by the Italian monarchs after unification (when they visited Genoa) can be visited, but the remainder of the building is not open to tour. So don’t go out of your way to get here, despite the beauty of the palace itself as seen from the courtyard.

In the 17th century, Spain’s gradual decline caused an associated decline here in Genoa, as the city had become so dependent on transfers of Spanish wealth from the New World that those drying up (when other European powers caught up and then surpassed the might of Spain) meant a loss of both finances and influence. In 1684, part of the city was destroyed by France in retribution for its Spanish alliances.

Slow decline would last for about a century, until in 1797, Napoleon would conquer Genoa, officially ending roughly 700 years of the Republic of Genoa, and the short-lived Ligurian Republic would take its place. After Napoleon’s defeat, the entire territory of the former Republic of Genoa was ceded to Piedmont-Sardinia and the Savoy family.

But modern Genoa owes so much of its appeal and its beauty to this Genoese golden age. It is impossible to stroll the streets of the city (at least the parts of the city that existed back then, as Genoa has grown remarkably since) and not see glimpses of the palaces of the lists, the Rolli Palaces. An open doorway will beckon you into a stunning courtyard. An intricately carved stone facade will stand on what is now an apartment building. A beautifully frescoed ceiling in a commercial lobby will serve as a reminder that this was once one of the world’s wealthiest places.

Any visit to Genoa needs to pay some measure of homage to that Golden Age, whether you decide to see the interiors of the palaces or not.

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