Palazzo Cattaneo-Adorno

Rubens, Palazzi di Genova, plan of the two symmetrical mansions

The cousins Lazzaro and Giacomo Spinola (from Luccoli) had the palace built between 1583 and 1588. The attribution of two distinct house numbers is due to the fact that the palace, although it consists of a single building, is made up of two distinct and symmetrical dwellings, a feature that makes it unique among the palaces of Strada Nuova. The absolute symmetry conceived by the unknown architect who oversaw its construction characterises both the facades, the floor plan and the gardens, as can be seen in the surveys made by Rubens for the 1622 edition of the Palazzi di Genova.[1] The uniqueness of the double construction is still highlighted by the presence of the two identical portals facing the street.

In 1609, the western part (no. 10) was given to Filippo Adorno. The Adorno family, whose descendants retained ownership until the 20th century, commissioned the interior decoration. In particular, it was Giovanni Battista Adorno (1566—1638), brother of the purchaser, who commissioned Lazzaro Tavarone to paint the famous cycle of frescoes in the 1520s, with the subject of the exploits of the Adorno family.[2] From his marriage to Paola Spinola was born Paolina Adorno (1610—1648), wife of Anton Giulio Brignole Sale, immortalised in the famous portrait by Van Dyck now in Palazzo Rosso.

The eastern residence (no. 8), on the other hand, experienced more changes of ownership. Belonging to the Saluzzo family from the 17th to the mid-19th century, it then passed to the Scassi, then to the Cattaneo. Following the merger of the Cattaneo and Adorno families, with the marriage of Luigi Cattaneo and Viola Adorno, the palazzo took its present name.[3]

More modest is the decoration of the east wing, which features 16th-century frescoes by Giovanni Andrea Ansaldo (1584—1638) with Stories of Cupid and Psyche.

Inside the west wing at number 10, the frescoed decoration, dated 1624 and the work of Lazzaro Tavarone, celebrates on the Vault of the atrium a war feat of Antoniotto Adorno, the owners' ancestor doge. In another room on the ground floor, the Conquest of Jerusalem, is celebrated with William Embriacus expels Jerusalem, the Delivery of the Baptist’s Ashes, the Gift of the Holy Basin, surrounded by Allegorical Figures. In the room on the piano nobile, also by Lazzaro Tavarone, is the fresco depicting the Deeds of Doge Antoniotto Adorno for the liberation of Pope Urban VI besieged by Charles III, King of Naples at Nocera (1385). Other rooms present encomiastic subjects (Raffaele Adorno conquers the island of Gerba in 1388) biblical (Announcement of the angel to Hagar and Ishmael, Stories of Daniel) and mythological (Cupid blindfolded).[4]

In other living rooms under vaults frescoed with mythological subjects, precious furniture and knick-knacks are preserved, as well as part of the rich and well-known picture gallery comprising remarkable paintings between the XVI and the 17th century.

• 
  Particular of one of the two portals of the palace
• 
  Rubens, Palaces of Genoa
• 
  Raffaele Adorno besieges the city of Tunis, Lazzaro Tavarone, 1624
• 
  Anthony van Dyck, Portrait of Paolina Adorno Brignole-Sale
• 
  Fresco by Lazzaro Tavarone, depicting the storming of Jerusalem

Media related to Palazzo Cattaneo Adorno (Genoa) at Wikimedia Commons

• Palazzo Cattaneo Adorno (Lazzaro e Giacomo Spinola)
• Palazzo Spinola Lazzaro e Giacomo, via Garibaldi, 8-10
• Palazzo di Lazzaro e Giacomo Spinola