Overview
Of the three museums along Strada Nuova, Palazzo Rosso is located at No. 18, and Palazzo Bianco at No. 11 and Palazzo Doria Tursi at No. 9.
Palazzo Rosso takes its name from the 'Genoese red' on the façade. The interior houses frescoes by the major painters of 17th-century Liguria, precious furnishings, and the Brignole-Sale picture gallery with works by Michele Giambono, Albrecht Dürer, Paolo Veronese, Guercino, Antoon Van Dyck, and many others. The wall cycle on the second piano nobile is among the highest expressions of 17th-century painting in Genoa. From the terrace on the first floor and from the belvedere there are magnificent views of the city centre.
Palazzo Bianco, of 16th-century origin, had been rebuilt for the Brignole-Sale family in the early 18th century. Inaugurated as a civic museum in 1892, it reopened in 1950 in an exemplary layout designed by Franco Albini. The order gives space to the main components of the collections: Genoese, Italian and Flemish masters as well as 17th century Spanish painting, 16th century Venetian and Lombard painting from Cerano to Caravaggio.
You exit into a green space with the remains of a demolished church to access Palazzo Doria Tursi, built after the mid-sixteenth century. The size of its forehead, three times larger than that of the other palaces, a sign of the power of the patron Nicolò Grimaldi, is extraordinary. Works by Gregorio De Ferrari, Alessandro Magnasco and Antonio Canova are on display, as well as coins, tapestries, ceramics from Genoa, Savona and Albisola, apothecary vases, and a violin, the 'Cannone Guarnieri', which belonged to Nicolò Paganini.
