Genoa, on the occasion of the Republic Day, “Palazzi Svelati” returns: the buildings of the institutions, including that of the Region, are open to the public

Sunday 2 June, on the occasion of Republic Day, return to Genoa “Palaces Unveiled”, the extraordinary opening to the public of institutional buildings, including that of the Liguria Region.

There are 23 institutions involved e 22 historic homes ready to open the doors to reveal its treasures to citizens and tourists (The Prefecture and the Metropolitan City of Genoa are located in the same building, Palazzo Doria Spinola), including three new for the 2024 edition: Villa Sauli Bombrini Doria (home of the Paganini Conservatory in the Albaro district), the Diocesan Museum of Genoa with the Cloister of the Canons of San Lorenzo and the Ducal Palace of Genoa.

I “Palaces Unveiled” will open to the public starting from 9am on Sunday 2 June; Reservations, with different methods depending on the building, on the site https://palazzisvelati.happyticket.it/.

"This year too, an event of great importance returns: the extraordinary opening of the institutional buildings, usually closed to the public, as an opportunity to admire the artistic and architectural heritage of the city while celebrating the anniversary of the birth of the Republic- comments the interim president of the Liguria Region –. This is a unique event to raise awareness of the places where administrative and political life takes place, a symbolic gesture of rapprochement between citizens and institutions, which is also capable of enriching the vast cultural offering of our capital and Liguria. Even the Palazzo della Regione in Piazza De Ferrari, which in the last edition had welcomed 1700 visitors, is ready to open its doors, also offering to open the doors to reveal its treasures to citizens and tourists in addition to the Institution's picture gallery and the bronze statues by Francesco Messina, on loan from the Wolfsoniana”.

"After the over 70 thousand visitors who participated in the last edition of the Rolli Days, thanks to Palazzi Svelati the doors of some of the most beautiful historic homes in Genoa which house the headquarters of public, political and cultural institutions will be opened to the general public - declares the councilor for Territorial Marketing of the Municipality of Genoa - The numbers tell us that, in recent years, the initiatives implemented by local authorities for the dissemination of our cultural heritage are enjoying growing success among citizens and tourists. Finally, after a period of tiredness, Genoa is once again opening up to the world in all fields: not only the economic, industrial, logistics and digital ones, but also the essential one of promoting the territory and its beauties that for variety, richness and quality, have very few equals at an international level”.

The city revealed : Il “great theatre” of Piazza Nuova through the eyes of a Nordic (edited by Anna Orlando)

During 'Palaces Unveiled' visitors to the Liguria Region headquarters in Piazza De Ferrari they will be able to admire a selection of the works of art kept inside and not normally visible to the public.

Furthermore, on the occasion of the 2024 edition, the Palazzo della Regione will host a singular painting from a private collection which reveals a corner of the city that no longer exists. We are in the 1670-1680 around, when the German Pietro Maurizio Bolckman, born in 1640 in Germany, in Gorinchem, e died in Turin in 1710, visits the city of Genoa and portrays it one of the liveliest and most colorful corners: the current Piazza Matteotti, at the time known as "Piazza Nuova", represented during the course of a market. When a large market was still held there and Palazzo Ducale was protected, as if it were a fortress, by a "curtain", built in the mid-fifteenth century and demolished in the mid-nineteenth century. Among "besagnini", prelates, nobles transported in sedan chairs and many other characters, visitors will be able to admire the square in a new light, capturing the differences and similarities between its current form and that of the 17th century.

Bolckman, in Italy since at least 1664, he had a huge success in Turin, where he moved after having visited Rome, Naples and Genoa; he was one of the most important exponents of the so-called “genre painting”, in which he carves out a leading role as specialist in city views, especially large squares packed with people.

As is the tradition of Nordic painters, always attentive to take care of every little detail in the reproduction of reality that they restore on small copper plates or tablets, or on canvas as in this case, Bolckman tells many small episodes within a large scene.

After a first general impression, in which we already hear the noise, the loud shouting, the barking of the dogs and the sound of the mules loaded with vegetables, and even the noise of the horses' hooves on the pavement, it is natural to linger on the many everyday stories of the Genoese of the time.

We see who sells and who buys, who walks and who crosses the square in a sedan chair, dogs, poultry, quartered oxen, nobles, commoners, monks and monsignors.

Each of them is an actor or an extra, as in a great everyday theatre.

Bolckman stages a sort of stage, in which the wings are made up of the buildings, from the church of Gesù, from the cathedral of S. Lorenzo.

The every building, like the clothes of the "actors" or every single commodity sold on the stalls of Piazza Nuova, is described in detail.

The artist reveals to us, in some cases, the city that no longer exists.

We are not so struck by the bell tower and the dome of the Duomo, which appear just as they are today, but some facades painted according to the typical Genoese tradition, today faded or completely vanished with the passing of the centuries.

The actors on stage are a lively crowd, where we recognize the butcher, the chicken seller, the "besagnine" (i.e. the women who came down to the city from the Polcevera valley to bring fruit and vegetables from their gardens), the milkmaid who also sells the "prescinsêua", i.e. the "quagliata" Genoese” or “giuncata” which originally came from the hinterland, especially from the Val d'Aveto.

Micro stories, all so true, thanks to the “magic glasses” of a Nordic in the city.

“Each work of art is a small chapter of history that reveals itself in the form of a figure and gives us not only beauty, but also knowledge – declares the curator Anna Orlando -. The painting by Pietro Maurizio Bolckman, a German painter who visited Genoa at the end of the 600th century, illustrates in great detail a part of our city in a moment of daily life over 300 years ago. We are virtually in Piazza Matteotti and, as if we were wearing magic glasses, we find ourselves in Piazza Nuova, when near the church of Gesù and Palazzo Ducale, defended by walls like a fortress, the large market with fruit and vegetables took place, with stalls of the butcher, the chicken seller and the milkmaid. Equally magically, this masterpiece from a private collection transforms before our gaze from a fixed image to a large theater of moving people and animals, of which we even seem to hear the festive and noisy voices".

The “Palaces Unveiled” 2024:

Palazzo Doria Spinola – Prefecture and Metropolitan City of Genoa; Palace of the Liguria Region; Palazzo Doria Tursi – Municipality of Genoa; Tobia Pallavicino palace - Chamber of Commerce; Stock Exchange building; De Gaetani Palace - Bank of Italy; Museum of the Ligustica Academy of Fine Arts; University Building; Palazzo Lomellini Patrone – Army Military Command “Liguria”; Palazzo San Giorgio – Port System Authority of the Western Ligurian Sea; Museum of the Risorgimento – Mazzinian Institute; Operations Room of the Civil Protection of the Liguria Region; State District Attorney's Office; Ducal Palace of Genoa; Financial Office Building – Revenue Agency; INAIL – Liguria Regional Directorate; Fort San Giorgio – Hydrographic Institute of the Navy; port authorities - Coast Guard; Fire Brigade Command; Diocesan Museum – Cloister of the canons of San Lorenzo; Villa Sauli Bombrini Doria – Paganini Conservatory; “San Giorgio” barracks – Regional Command of the Guardia di Finanza.

More details and timetables on the website at this link.

The official ceremony to celebrate Republic Day will be held on June 2nd, in Piazza Matteotti, starting from 9.30. Scheduled, after the flag raising, the performance of the national anthem by the Niccolò Paganini Conservatory of Genoa and the reading of the message from the President of the Republic.

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