Genoese Homes, Furnishings and Household Possessions

Genoese homes combined shelter, storage and work, while aristocratic palaces could also provide official hospitality. Medieval inventories record possessions and the guardians responsible for children’s property. Service contracts identify tasks outside the house as well as provisions supplied within it. Later palaces reveal another scale of domestic space, arranged for family residence and reception.

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Private palaces and public hospitality

From the later sixteenth century, the Genoese aristocracy developed new streets and imposing residences in the centre of the city. Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, originally called Strada Nuova, was built between 1558 and 1583; Via Balbi followed between 1602 and 1620. A later addition, Via Cairoli, dates from 1778 to 1786. These projects accompanied Genoa’s financial and maritime power and the wealth of families involved in lending to European rulers, including the Spanish Crown.

The palaces known as the Palazzi dei Rolli formed part of a system for hosting prominent visitors on behalf of the Republic. Beginning in 1576, the Senate compiled official lists of private residences eligible for this duty. The lists were revised in 1588, 1599, 1614 and 1664. They grouped palaces by rank, taking account of such qualities as size and prestige; a public lottery then selected a residence suited to the status of a visiting dignitary. A household chosen in this way had to provide accommodation for the guest on the government’s behalf. The arrangement made private homes part of the Republic’s public reception of rulers, diplomats and religious authorities without turning them into state-owned buildings.

Many of the palaces stood on sloping ground and were arranged as a sequence of entrance space, courtyard, staircase and garden. Their several floors and elaborate interiors helped make them both residences and settings for receiving visitors. The system therefore made domestic architecture visible as a measure of family standing and as a resource used by the government.

Family apartments and household service

Palazzo Rosso offers a detailed example of an aristocratic residence shaped for more than one household. Built between 1671 and 1677 for the brothers Rodolfo and Gio Francesco Brignole Sale, it had a U-shaped plan and two principal residential floors, one assigned to each brother. After Rodolfo’s death, Gio Francesco I became the owner of the whole palace and commissioned extensive decoration. The building’s rooms were not simply a succession of showpieces: different apartments and chambers supported private residence as well as reception and family display.

Work on the main decorated rooms began in 1679. The artists Domenico Piola and Gregorio De Ferrari worked with specialists in painted architectural perspective and stucco. In the principal hall, a large ceiling painting presented Phaethon before Apollo. Four surrounding rooms were devoted to the seasons, using mythological figures and natural imagery to turn the sequence of rooms into a connected decorative scheme. Other rooms took up subjects including human life and the liberal arts. Such commissions required collaboration among painters and craftspeople, and joined room decoration to the family’s public image.

Household service supplies another view of domestic routines. In 1308, Giacobina agreed to serve Lanzarotto de Oliva and his wife for seven years. Her duties included fetching water and going to the oven. The employer promised food, clothing, shoes and lodging. Provisioning depended on journeys through the neighbourhood as well as work inside the home.

Daily water had to be carried from a source to where it would be used. Taking food to an oven similarly connected household preparation with a shared neighbourhood facility. These tasks required time and repeated movement. Giacobina’s written terms made the work and the maintenance owed to her parts of one agreement.

Possessions, storage and family property

An inventory prepared in 1240 for the heirs of Ambrosius, a Genoese scribe, records books, finger rings, furniture and small ivory caskets. Such containers kept valuable possessions together and could also display the material and workmanship invested in them. Silver spoons listed as pledged for loans connect household goods with a need for cash.

Objects could serve several economic purposes over their lifetime. A spoon was an eating implement and a valuable quantity of metal; a chest held belongings and could be counted as an asset. Pledging an item offered access to money while leaving the possibility of recovering it. An estate inventory gathered these possessions into a record that a guardian or heir could use.

In 1238, Alda, widow of Nicolosus Nepitelle, compiled an inventory as guardian of their children Bonifacius and Andriolus. It recorded property, commercial contracts and household goods, including arms. The household estate therefore joined possessions used at home with claims arising from maritime business. Managing children’s inheritance required keeping track of both.

Domestic work and the management of a home

Palazzo Rosso’s two principal residential floors originally accommodated separate branches of a wealthy family. A hall, loggia and flanking rooms organised reception and movement, while paintings and furnishings made lineage visible. Medieval inventories and service contracts reveal different practical concerns: keeping possessions, managing inheritance and sustaining the work that made a household function.

For the wider setting, see Families, Homes and Household Dependence in the Republic of Genoa, 11th–18th Centuries.