Palazzo Carrega-Cataldi and the late Genoese Baroque gallery

The Palazzo Carrega-Cataldi, or Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino, is a building located in via Garibaldi at number 4 in the historic centre of Genoa. It was built between 1558 and 1561 for Tobia Pallavicino, a wealthy alum merchant and descendant of one of the city's oldest noble families. Giovan Battista Castello, known as the Bergamasco, worked on the building with the collaboration of Bartolomeo Riccio, Domenico Solari and Antonio Roderio. The clarity of the façade is Renaissance and of clear Alessian influence, featuring ashlar cladding in final stone on the ground floor and pilasters of Ionic order on the first floor.

The building was originally a cubic block of two floors plus two mezzanines. It did not undergo major alterations until the beginning of the 18th century, when it passed into the ownership of the Carrega family and was raised by one storey. Two perpendicular arms and the rear body were built, delimited towards Piazza del Ferro by a simple facade with plasterwork. The building is now the headquarters of Genoa's Chamber of Commerce.

The interior decoration reflects the two phases of construction. The vestibules on the ground and main floors, completely covered in late Renaissance decoration, have survived intact. Here, the inspiration to Roman models and in particular Raphaelesque ones is evident on the part of Castello, author of the design and the frescoes enclosed between the stuccoes and grottesche. In the ground floor vestibule, delicately modulated white stucco frames run between fanciful, minute grotesque decorations and larger frescoes depicting full-length Olympian deities, while the central octagons depict Juno and Leda.

In the main floor vestibule, the colours of the decorations become brighter. They are entirely covered with stuccos and grotesques and frescoed panels representing Apollo Citaredo with the Muses and Musician figures. The unity of the architectural and decorative project is evident here too.

Two rooms in particular belong to the 18th-century phase, the chapel and the gilded gallery, masterpieces of the late Genoese Baroque due to Lorenzo De Ferrari. In both rooms, the decoration blends walls, ceilings, doors, mirrors and furnishings into a sophisticated scenographic apparatus. The chapel highlights a famous statue of the Virgin and Child, known as the Madonna Carrega, sculpted by Pierre Puget around 1680. The gallery, realized by De Ferrari probably in collaboration with Diego Francesco Carlone, represents a significant example of the Rococo taste in Genoa. The entire decorative cycle is inspired by the stories of Aeneas; the Council of the Gods, with Venus, Aeneas' mother in the presence of Jupiter, is depicted on the oval of the vault.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons