What is the Strozzi fresco cycle?

A 17th-century fresco cycle by Bernardo Strozzi — one of the most accomplished painters of the Genoese Baroque — depicting the discovery of the Americas. The subject was significant in a city whose most celebrated native had reached the New World barely a century before the commission. The cycle was subsequently lost from view: covered over or simply inaccessible as the palace passed through different owners, it remained undocumented as an artistic landmark for generations. Its eventual rediscovery and scholarly restoration has made the Strozzi rooms one of the principal attractions of the guided tour.

What is the Nymphaeum?

An 18th-century architectural feature at ground level that connects the street facade to two terraced hanging gardens above, decorated with statues, fountains, and artificial grottoes. The Nymphaeum creates a transitional sequence between the public street and the private garden levels — an unusual garden-within-a-palace experience in the heart of Genoa's historic centre, where private garden space within the dense urban fabric is rare. The garden terraces rise to a panoramic terrace with views over the Bay of Genoa.

How is Palazzo Lomellino related to Palazzo Imperiale and Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino?

All three were designed by the same architect, Giovanni Battista Castello ("il Bergamasco"), within about a decade of each other — Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino in 1558–1561, Palazzo Imperiale around 1560, and Palazzo Lomellino in 1563–1569. The three palaces form a rare concentration of one architect's work on a single street: the same compositional vocabulary, the same late-Renaissance decorative sensibility, and the same scale deployed across three separate noble commissions within the span of roughly a decade on the same Via Garibaldi.

UNESCO World Heritage

Palazzo Lomellino

Palazzo Lomellino di Strada Nuova

Italy · Liguria — Via Garibaldi (Strada Nuova), historic centre of Genoa · Near Genoa

Built 1569 · Late Renaissance palace by Giovanni Battista Castello ("il Bergamasco"), 1563–1569; 18th-century Nymphaeum connecting street to two hanging gardens; Bernardo Strozzi fresco cycle (Americas discovery, rediscovered and restored); Europa Nostra award winner for restoration

This page is part of an independent travel guide and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by Palazzo Lomellino.

Palazzo Lomellino on Via Garibaldi, Genoa — the 1563 Bergamasco Renaissance palace with restored Bernardo Strozzi frescoes, 18th-century Nymphaeum, and hanging gardens overlooking the Bay of Genoa

Quick Facts

Hours: Daily By guided tour only — check schedule
Guided tour from: €15
Duration: 2.5 hours (combined tour covering all four Rolli palaces)
Best time: Year-round
Booking: Required — book 1+ days ahead
Nearest city: Genoa

Get Tickets & Tours →

Featured Tour

Guided Tour of Rolli Palaces UNESCO Site, Genoa

⭐ 4.5 (593)·2.5 hours

From €15Guided tour

Book This Tour →

Cancellation available · Instant confirmation

Highlights

✦Built 1563–1569 for Nicolosio Lomellino, who made his fortune through coral fishing off Tabarca — a Genoese-controlled island off the Tunisian coast — an unusually specific origin for a Via Garibaldi palace, where most wealth derived from banking and trade finance
✦Designed by Giovanni Battista Castello ("il Bergamasco"), the architect behind Palazzo Imperiale and Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino — the third of the Bergamasco trio on Via Garibaldi, all completed within about a decade
✦A Bernardo Strozzi fresco cycle depicting the discovery of the Americas was painted in the 17th century, then lost from view for generations — recently rediscovered and restored, it now stands as one of the palace's principal artistic attractions
✦An 18th-century Nymphaeum at ground level connects the street to two terraced hanging gardens decorated with statues, fountains, and artificial grottoes — an unusual garden sequence within the densely built historic centre of Genoa
✦Winner of a Europa Nostra / European Heritage Award for the quality of its restoration — one of the few Rolli palaces to have received this recognition

Skip the queue with a guided tour

Skip-the-line tickets & expert guides

See Tours →

Among Genoa's Via Garibaldi palaces, Palazzo Lomellino has an origin story unlike any of its neighbours. Where most of the wealth behind these Renaissance facades derived from banking and trade finance, Nicolosio Lomellino made his fortune through coral fishing. His family held a concession for coral harvesting off Tabarca — a Genoese-controlled island off the Tunisian coast — and the monopoly returns from that trade financed the palace he commissioned in 1563. Giovanni Battista Castello, known as "il Bergamasco," was chosen as architect: the same master who designed Palazzo Imperiale and Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino on the same street within roughly a decade, making Palazzo Lomellino the third of an unusual trio of late-Renaissance palaces by a single architect along a single Genoese street.

The palace's most significant artistic feature lay hidden for generations. In the 17th century, Bernardo Strozzi — a Capuchin friar turned painter who became one of the most accomplished figures of the Genoese Baroque before relocating to Venice — was commissioned to paint a fresco cycle depicting the discovery of the Americas. The subject had obvious resonance in the city of Columbus, but the cycle did not remain visible: covered over or simply inaccessible as the palace changed hands across the following centuries, it passed from view. Its rediscovery and scholarly restoration brought Palazzo Lomellino back into art-historical discussion as a site of genuine importance beyond its architecture.

The palace's other defining feature is spatial rather than pictorial. An 18th-century Nymphaeum at ground level connects the street to two terraced hanging gardens decorated with statues, fountains, and artificial grottoes. In Genoa's densely built historic centre, where private garden space within the urban fabric is rare, the arrangement is genuinely unusual. The gardens rise through successive terraces to a panoramic terrace with views over the Bay of Genoa — a prospect accessible only from within the palace, tucked behind the understated Renaissance facade of one of the city's most observed streets.

The restoration programme — encompassing both the recovered Strozzi cycle and the garden ensemble — was recognised with a Europa Nostra / European Heritage Award, among the continent's leading heritage prizes. Palazzo Lomellino is one of the few Rolli palaces to have received this recognition, and the quality of the restoration is apparent in the condition of both the architectural fabric and the painted interiors that visitors encounter on the guided Rolli Palaces tour.

History

The Lomellino family built their Via Garibaldi palace on wealth that differed from that of their neighbours. Where most of the Rolli families derived their fortunes from banking and trade finance, the Lomellinos held a coral concession on Tabarca — a Genoese-controlled island off the Tunisian coast — and directed those returns into a palace commissioned from Giovanni Battista Castello, "il Bergamasco," in 1563 and completed by 1569. The building's original late-Renaissance decorative programme was joined in the following century by a fresco cycle depicting the discovery of the Americas, painted by Bernardo Strozzi at the peak of his Genoese career — before his later years in Venice, where he became one of the foundational figures of northern Italian Baroque painting. The cycle subsequently passed from view as the palace changed hands across successive generations. The 18th century brought a substantial addition: a Nymphaeum at ground level connecting the street to two terraced hanging gardens, an arrangement with no parallel among the other Rolli palaces. A modern restoration programme recovered the Strozzi cycle and restored the garden ensemble, earning a Europa Nostra heritage award. The palace was inscribed in 2006 as part of the UNESCO Palazzi dei Rolli World Heritage Site.

How to Visit

Getting there: Palazzo Lomellino is on Via Garibaldi in central Genoa, within a few hundred metres of Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Imperiale, and Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino. The nearest metro station is De Ferrari (~5 minutes' walk). The guided tour meets at a designated Via Garibaldi point — confirm the exact meeting spot when booking.

Tickets: Access is via the guided Rolli Palaces tour (t29705, from €15, 4.5★ / 593 reviews) — a 2.5-hour bilingual Italian/English tour covering all four palaces: Palazzo Lomellino, Palazzo Imperiale, Palazzo Rosso, and Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino. Do not miss the hanging garden terrace and the Strozzi fresco rooms — both are explicitly included in the guided tour. Book in advance.

Practical tips: The hanging gardens and Nymphaeum are the visually distinctive elements that set this palace apart from the other three — make a point of spending time there. The Strozzi fresco rooms require explanation to fully appreciate what has been recovered and why it matters; the guide's commentary is particularly valuable here. The secret panoramic terrace at the top of the garden levels offers one of the better views over the Bay of Genoa from within the city's historic centre.

Combine with: [Palazzo Imperiale](/castles/italy/palazzo-imperiale) (one of the three Bergamasco-designed palaces on the same tour — a Luca Cambiaso-frescoed Renaissance palace still owned by its founding family) and [Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino](/castles/italy/palazzo-tobia-pallavicino) (the third of the Bergamasco trio, home to the Golden Gallery, one of Genoa's finest Rococo interiors).

Frequently Asked Questions

Coral fishing off the Tunisian island of Tabarca — a Genoese-controlled island in the western Mediterranean where the Lomellino family held a concession for coral harvesting. Coral was a high-value commodity in 16th-century trade, and the Lomellino monopoly on the Tabarca grounds produced substantial income. It was an unusually specific and physically distant source of wealth among the Via Garibaldi families, most of whom built their palaces on returns from banking, trade finance, and commercial lending.