 |
 |
|
|
The history
The whole monumental complex of Palazzo del Principe is oriented
towards the sea, This direct prospect onto the waters was
of great importance to the first owners of the residence,
the admirals Andrea and Giovanni Andrea I Doria, firstly for
strategic considerations, and secondly for the glorious view
to be enjoyed from the piano nobile. In 1581 was built a monumental
“sea Loggia”, which gave access to the private
quay of the Doria, from the south garden of the palace.
|
| 
|
Nicolas-Marie-Joseph Chapuy
and Felix Achille Saint Aulaire,
Panorama of Genoa, first and second part, ca. 1838, Collezione
Topografica of the Comune. The twoviews portray the Doria
terrace and the panorama to be enjoyed from it, in the first
to the east, and in the second to the west.
|
| This substituted a simpler structure,
erected around the middle of the century. Built to the orders
of Giovanni Andrea I, who employed the architect Giovanni
Ponzello, the new construction was conceived as an ancient
Roman maritime villa, with terraces supported on arcades,
central courtyards and a triumphal entry staircase. |
|
At the time, this part of the building jutted straight out
on the sea, and the main door opened onto the family quay,
covered with carpets and precious fabrics when illustrious
persons paid visits. But the walls constructed in the 1630s
by the Republic of Genoa along the western arch of the port
changed the situation: the Loggia, having lost its original
function, now faced onto the public road to the back of the
new walls.
|
 |
Antonio Giolfi, Giuseppe Rivera, Gio,
Lorenzo guidotti, View of Palazzo del Principe D’Oria,
1769, detail with the sea loggia and, in the foreground,
a stretch of the seventeenth-century wall. |
 |
Domenico Pasquale Cambiaso, Arcade
in the Garden of the Prince Doria, Collezione Topografica
of the Comune, XIX century. The watercolour portrays
the inside of the structure, at the height of the arcade
arranged around the central courtyard and topped by
the terraces.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
