Seaside renaissance

Roderick Conway Morris on how Genoa’s glorious Villa del Principe has been brought back to life

Palazzo Doria Pamphilj houses the most important private art collection in Rome. But the family possesses another treasure, the Villa del Principe in Genoa. The Doria side of the family moved to Rome in 1760, when they inherited the Pamphilj titles and estates, after which the Villa del Principe suffered a slow decline, punctuated by two major disasters. But after 16 years of work it has now been restored and reopened to the public.

Donna Gesine Principessa Doria Pamphilj, who stays there regularly with her husband Massimiliano Floridi and their three children, said when I visited the villa on the eve of the inauguration, ‘The idea of restoring the villa, rediscovering its story and reviving the family’s connections with Genoa goes back to my grandparents and parents. But we wanted to bring it alive again, not just make it into a museum.’

The Villa del Principe was built on the seashore at Fassolo outside Genoa’s city walls in the 16th century by Andrea Doria, the most illustrious Christian admiral of the age. While battling the Ottomans and Barbary corsairs at sea, personally commanding his fleet into ripe old age, Doria brought peace to Genoa, ended the city’s factional strife, reformed its Republican constitution and became the city-state’s benign dictator, while remaining officially a private citizen with the honorary title of Pater Patriae (Father of the Nation).

The villa was an admiral’s port house — his galley squadrons were parked at the end of the formal gardens when he was in residence — the epicentre of local political power and a palace worthy to receive visiting grandees, princes and emperors. The frescoes and stucco work were done by Perino del Vaga, one of Raphael’s chief collaborators, who also laid out the magnificent terraced gardens.