Why are the facades of Ligurian houses richly decorated?

The house facades in Liguria are very beautiful and colourful. From ages, they are considered a visiting card of its inhabitants. It is still actual! If you live in a house that has rich and beautifully decorated facade you will be respectable … I proved it on my skin 🙂 )

History

The tradition of decorating the house facades started in the XV century. The trend began in via Garibaldi, in Genoa, where were built new, Renaissance palaces. Thier facades were richly decorated with sculptures, cornices and marbles (in fact that palaces are inscribed on UNESCO Heritage World List). However, not many owners could afford to decorate their houses in that way. That’s why it was invented another way of decorating facades. Simply all sculptures, marbles and cornices were painted on the walls of the house. It cost much less and it was very beautiful as well. So it was a kind of democratic way to decorate houses. And it was also the first way to save money.

Taxes

On many Ligurian facades, you can notice many fake windows. They are all painted on the wall. They are painted with shutters closed or opened or even with a person that looks out the window. It is said that those fake windows were painted because of the taxes. The tax rate depended on the number of windows that brought on the street. Obviously, the owners wanted to pay lower taxes so they painted some fake windows and in that way, they could pay less. When you are in Liguria you will see really many fake windows … 😉 And it was the second way to save money 😉

Painters

Painters of the facades of nobles families were famous sculptors, painters and architects. Obviously, not many owners could afford to pay artists for decorating their facades. So here arrives the third way to save money 😉 “Normal” owners rent artisans that were specialized in facades paintings. Of course, they cost much less than famous, Renaissance artists. What is more, the artisans were so capable that their work looked like the real windows, cornices and marbles 😉

The Ligurians were very pragmatic and frugal population. They were able to create the beautiful buildings by spending relatively little money. What is more, that colourful, decorated buildings became the symbols of whole Liguria and are better-known than their Renaissance archetype.

 

• Did you like the post? I will be glad if we stay in touch! You can like That’s Liguria! on Facebook ! Every day you will find new photos, inspirations and interesting information 😉