Ducal PalacePalazzo Ducale

Genoa’s Ducal Palace was the seat of the doges who ruled the maritime republic, a power center that began in 1298 and grew as the city’s fortunes expanded. Its courtyards and state rooms preserve a palimpsest of Gothic and Renaissance work, then the neoclassical public face imposed after the fire of 1777 by Simone Cantoni. In the Hall of the Grand Council, Giuseppe Isola’s c. 1840 ceiling allegory casts Genoa’s authority as myth, while today’s exhibitions keep the building in civic use.