I haven’t written about Genoa for a long time! However, from the next week, I will finally be able to move in Liguria, so I will start describing new places to you. And at this time, I tell you the legend of one of a Rolli Palace 🙂
Rolli Palaces
The history of Genoa was very particular and one of its particularities was the fact that it never had a royal palace. In the past, it was a serious problem. In that period many important persons as kings, dukes, ambassadors visited the city and it was essential to have a suitable place that could host all these important guests. That’s why the Rolli were created. Rolli (rolls) were about 150 noble homes that were inscribed on special lists. Each time, before arriving of an important guest, these palaces took part in the draw and the owner of the palace that was drawn had to take care of the arriving important guest. In 2006 42 of these palaces have been inscribed on the UNESCO list. I wrote more about Rolli here.
Palazzo Gio Vincenzo Imperiale
One of these palaces was the Palazzo Gio Vincenzo Imperiale, located at Piazza Campetto. It was designed in 1560 with a mannerist façade, decorated with stuccos and frescoes. It has not been inscribed on the UNESCO list, but it is as majestic and beautiful as those inscribed on. And there is a legend regarding this palace.
When you stand in front of the palace and you look to the right, towards the second floor, you will see that one of the windows has been walled up. What’s more, there is a figure of a woman who looks out of the window painted there (!) Who is this woman? Why was the window bricked up? Nobody really knows this … but there is a legend that explains everything 😉
Legend
Well, according to the legend, at the time when the palace belonged to the shipowner Gio Vincenzo Imperiale, that was the window from which his wife was looking out Gio’s return. Unfortunately, the wife died at a young age and that was a huge tragedy for the shipowner. He never accepted her loss and ordered to walled up this window. In that way, no one could look out from that window. However, Gio didn’t want the memory of his wife disappears so he ordered to paint the image of his wife on the walled up window. Thanks to this, when he was returning home, he could again see his beloved looking out of the window …
So when you are in Genoa, in Piazza Campetto, look at this bricked up window and remind this romantic love story ❤️
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