Palazzo D'Oria-Panfili -- Palazzo del Principe, Genova

Luigi Speranza

There is so much confusion with regard to the palace of Andrea D'Oria in modern guide books that it will be better to preface an account of this building with a few words to show what the Palazzo D'Oria a Fassuolo, or the Palazzo D' Oria Panfili, is not before attempting to describe what it is.

The palace is not "the Palazzo Fregoso".

It was not "given to the great Andrea D'Oria"; and it was not "rebuilt and improved to its present state" by him.1

The palace which was presented to the admiral in recognition of his services is the building in the Piazza San Matteo over whose graceful portone is the inscription decreed by the Senate.

"While the Palazzo de' Campofregoso stood in the suburb of San Tommaso, the Palazzo D' Oria was in that of Fassuolo."2

Part of the site was obtained by purchase from members of the Lomellini family in 1521, and the remainder was acquired in the same manner from the Giustiniani-Furneto a few years later.

Finally, the palace was completed by Andrea's successor, (1 Guide to Genoa, already cited, p. 77.)(9 A. Merli and L. T. Belgrano, 11 Palazzo del Principe D' Oria a Fassuolo.) Gianandrea, nearly thirty years after the death of the admiral.

The position selected is one which would naturally recommend itself to a man whose chief interest centred in the coming and going of ships.

The Palazzo lies outside the city walls, but was separated from them by less than a stone's throw, in a situation so pleasant that it had been called the " Paradiso."

It commands the harbour, and Andrea D'Oria might embark on his galleys direct from his own garden.

Doubtless he had many times glanced at the spot in admiration as he sailed into the port.

And it was when he had entered his fifty-sixth year, with a career of battle and court intrigue behind him, that the work was actually commenced.

He set about it in the resolute manner which marked all his undertakings, pulling down such portions of the older buildings as were unsuited to his purpose, and rebuilding on an extended scale.

Before long he had gathered some of the best artists of the day to assist him.

And in 1528 Pierino Bonacorsi, better known as "Pierino del Vaga", who had lost all employment after the sack of Rome in the previous year, was welcomed in Genoa by Andrea D'Oria, and became the director of the works.

How much had been done before his arrival we do not know, but the structure must have been well forward as Geronimo da Treviglio was already at work on the now vanished frescoes of the sea front.

It is believed that the palace as originally erected by Andrea D'Oria consisted only of the portion on which the long inscription is carved, and that the wings were added at a later date.

While the colonnade in the cortile (whose extent coincides with the length of the inscription) is all that was left standing of the original Giustiniani-Furneto residence.

Thus, though the cortile was allowed to stand, Andrea D'Oria pulled down the whole house, and only preserved the foundations.

Hampered by the position of the older walls, the architect had but little opportunity for showing his abilities.

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And the palace lacks
grandeur
when compared with the other buildings of Genoa.

We miss the stately colonnaded entrance, finding instead a
plain cellar-like hall.

And the staircase -- usually so elaborate a feature -- is stowed away in a corner, and leads through semi-darkness to the gallery above.

The northern front was plain indeed.

For the great doorway which forms the state entrance, the work of Silvio Cosini and Giovanni da Fiesole, was placed here at a later date.

Removed, it is supposed, from the lower garden where it graced the portal leading to the harbour.

That it was not intended for its present position appears from the circumstance that it conceals a portion of the inscription, as well as from the misfit of the mouldings with those of the facade.

The interest of the Palazzo, apart from its memories of Andrea D'Oria, lies in the paintings of Pierino "del Vaga".

But the visitor who enters from the side doorway, and notes the patches of moss which vie with the stains of time and weather upon the walls, must expect to find that much of the glory of his work has passed away.

The ceiling of the entrance hall with its long panels on white and brown backgrounds, its sea monsters and triumphs of Scipio, presents an appearance which is far from gay.

And the six marble slabs carved by Montorsoli for the chancel rail in San Matteo, which were brought here in 1613, are thick with dust and cobwebs.

Of the two1 staircases only one remains.

(1 // Palazzo del Principe D 'Oria, p. 20, speaks of two staircases)

the plaster is dropping away, carrying the frescoes of Pierino and Angelini's restorations with it.

But these are of less interest than the gallery to which it leads, where, facing south and warmed by the sun, the decorations seem less desolate in the brighter atmosphere.

They were probably executed in 1530, and represent the heroes of the D 'Oria family painted

larger than life

-- so large, indeed, that in the confined space of the gallery they seem to glower down in princely wrath on the pigmy gazer.

Pagano, Lamba and Oberto are here, even if their identity can only be established by a venturesome guess.

But Giannettino was painted from the life, on the left of the door as the gallery is entered, and Andrea D'Oria's form fills the panel on the right of the door leading into the Salone.

The ceiling of the "Galleria degli Eroi," as it is called, was also painted by Pierino with pagan gods and goddesses, and with the stories of Horatius Codes, Bremnus, Marcus Curtius, Camillus, and Mucius Scevola before Porsenna.

Right and left of the gallery there were the state apartments of Andrea D'Oria and of his wife Peretta, each consisting of a large Salone with four rooms beyond.

Here Pierino da Vega was called upon to produce a set of designs for the ceilings.

And it was when the cartoons for Peretta Doria's boudo1r were exhibited that Geronimo da Treviglio, yielding to the envious promptings of his heart, left the unfinished frescoes on the sea front, and departed from Genoa without even taking leave of the prince.

Only the memory of these things remains, for the works are no longer to be seen.

All that the visitor will see is the Sala dei Giganti, where Pierino shows us Jupiter in high Heaven separated by a formal and none too vapoury cloud from the Giants against whom he is warring, and another chamber in which is represented the Caritd Romana.

In the former room there is the same sense of oppression called up by the largeness of the figures as in the gallery.

They are too near, and are handled in a manner more fitted for the high vault of a church than for an ordinary apartment.

Scattered about there are a few treasures of art.

A bronze door knocker which was made by the brawling, boasting, but wholly fascinating, Benvenuto Cellini.

Four long panels by Brandimarte, and a selection of decrepit chairs, the largest of which the caretaker will proudly tell you is that in which Andrea D'Oria himself used to sit.

In the inner room, too, there are objects of family interest, among them a picture by Tintoretto of the marriage of the

Count of Narbonne to

Oria, or

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Orizia della Volta.
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For the legend runs that in the
dim days of long ago

Arduin,
Count of Narbonne,

came to Genoa on his way to the Crusades, and while he waited for a ship to carry him to Palestine, fell ill under the hospitable roof of Orizia's mother, and was nursed back to health by the two women.

Aduin, the Count of Narbonne went to the wars, and returned later to wed the beautiful Oria,

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the children of the marriage taking their mother's name,
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and founding the noble line from which Andrea D' Oria was sprung.

Here, too, there is a portrait of Andrea D'Oria by Titian, showing him as a sharp-featured and bent old man, with listless folded hands and wistful eyes, which seem to gaze out of the canvas and ask dumbly for news of Gianandrea and the war in Africa; while an ungainly snake-tailed cat sits on a table, and looks placidly at its master.

The picture in this palace which is attributed to Pellegro Piola is that of Andrea's great dog Rodano.

But to return to Pierino.

Pierino da Vega remained in Genoa for five years, and then with the changeability common to many of his profession, suddenly removed to Pisa, nor could the entreaties of Andrea D'Oria bring him back.

And Pordenone was instructed to continue the frescoes towards the sea.

This brought the wanderer to his senses, and the two painters seem to have worked side by side until Domenico Beccafumi, whom Andrea D'Oria had seen five years earlier in Siena and invited to Genoa, arrived in 1541.

Pordenone resented his presence, and, following the example of Gerolamo da Treviglio, immediately departed.

Beccafumi went away soon afterwards, once more leaving Pierino supreme and alone.

The two wings beyond the inscription were built by Montorsoli about 1540, and the laying out of the eastern garden with its fountain, by the same artist, was the last important works commissioned by Andrea D'Oria.

In accordance with the will of Andrea D'Oria a year elapsed before his successor, Gianandrea D'Oria, could touch the buildings.

But, except for an extension towards the east in 1566, nothing considerable was undertaken until in 1577 the block of buildings extending on the east from the high road to the sea was erected.

About the same time the whole garden which had been previously on a gentle slope was levelled into two terraces.

And as Montorsoli's fountain was broken during the work a new one by Gian Giacomo Paracca, better known as Valsoldo, was placed in its stead.

This is the "Triton" fountain still existing in the east garden, and usually attributed to Montorsoli.

The eastern gate through which visitors to the palace are admitted was built in 1581.

And the huge statue of Jupiter in the upper gardens, and one of the most prominent objects in Genoa, was erected five years later by Marcello Sparzio.1

If an apology be necessary for such a minute account of these additions, it may be urged that as all the statues and fountains have been fathered indiscriminately on Montorsoli, and the execution and design of the Jupiter alone would blast his fair fame for ever, it is time that a protest were made.

Nor did he have any share in the

Fontana di Nettuno

which stands in the middle of the garden, though the imputation would do less harm.

************** The FONTANA DI NETTUNO

was designed and made by Taddeo, Giuseppe and Battista Carlone in 1599.

The church of San Benedetto had been restored and incorporated in the palace nine years earlier, and with this work the palace may be said to have been finished.

There have been terraces built towards the sea and then destroyed . . we read of Lazzaro Calvi decorating the Guardaroba of the prince.

But these things exist no longer, and when Gianandrea D'Oria died in 1606 it was fitting that the great Palazzo a Fassuolo should remain to us as the last great chief of the D' Oria line had left it .

It is impossible to do justice to the life of Andrea D'Oria in the short space that remains at our disposal.

Sigonius and Capelloni wrote of him soon after his death, and were incapable of judging him with impartiality.

Indeed, it may fairly be supposed that their chief object was to praise the illustrious dead.

Then all was practically silence until about fifty years ago a number of books appeared dealing principally with (1 "A Marcello Sparci scutti venti d' oro in oro ... a buon conto del Gigante che fa al nicchio della villa, d' alto." Filza di Mandati in the D' Oria archives, quoted in Merli and Belgrano's work, p. 63, note ii)
the Fieschi Conspiracy, and violently contradicting each other.1

The result is a mass of conflicting evidence as cannot be sifted here, and would only weary the reader.

A complete history of Andrea D'Oria's life would involve the history of all Europe from the year 1466 to 1560, with popes, kings and emperors flitting across the page in all the bewildering magnificence of the period.

Accordingly it is only possible in this sketch to refer briefly to outside events, while dwelling at greater length on those which concern the Republic of Genoa.

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Andrea D'Oria was born on St. Andrew's day -- hence his Christian name -- in 1466, his father Ceva being joint lord of Oneglia, in the Riviera di Ponente (present Imperia)

When Ceva D'Oria died Andrea D'Oria was still a child, and his uncle and guardian Giovanni D'Oria took unlawful possession of the whole estates.

Forced to fight his own way, and fond of a military life, at the age of twenty-six Andrea D'Oria became a member of the papal guard under its captain Niccolo D'Oria.

But when Innocent VIII died, and was succeeded by Alexander VI, the D'Orias left Rome, and for ten years Andrea D'Oria was engaged in fighting the battles of the della Rovere against Cesare Borgia, son of the Pope.

At the age of thirty-six he returned to Genoa, confident that Niccolo, who was engaged in reducing Corsica, would find him a more remunerative occupation.

But he had scarcely landed when Alexander VI and Pius III died in quick succession.

Giuliano della Rovere, who like his uncle, Sestus, he of Sistine Chapel fame, was from Celle, in the Riviera di Ponente, was elected Pope under the name of

Giulio II, and Niccolo, hurrying to Rome to serve him, left Andrea D'Oria to the supreme (1 See, in the List of Books, Bernabo Brea, Celesia, Olivieri, Guerrazzi and L. T. Belgrano. Also Atti di Stor. Pat, vol. viii. for Spanish, and vol. xxiii. for Tuscan, documents touching on the matter) command in Corsica.1

The campaign was brought to a satisfactory conclusion in 1511, when Ranuccio, the rebel chief, was starved into surrender.

In the following year the French were driven from Genoa, and under the new Doge, Giano Fregoso, Andrea D'Oria became

"Prefetto del Porto of Genoa",

and received his baptism of fire at sea on the galley of Emanuele Cavalli at the siege of the Briglia.

He next appears as second in command of a fleet composed of French, Genoese and Papal galleys.

And when he proved too successful, and was relieved of his command, his friends presented him with four ships, which were taken into the service of the Republic.

This was in 1517, and for the next few years we lose sight of him in the maze of European politics, noting only the fact of his public marriage in 1526 to

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Peretta Usodimare,
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a woman of about his own age.

Andrea was then sixty-one, but had already married Peretta secretly some years before.2 (Naturally, they had no children).

Charles V. meanwhile had succeeded Maximilian as Emperor, and was also by inheritance King of Spain . . and Francis I., his rival and restless enemy, was king in France.

When Genoa fell under the lash of Spain in 1522 Andrea D'Oria took service with France "to find some means of avenging his country for the cruel sack which it had suffered," and knowing

(1 The accusation levelled by Guerrazzi, Vita di Andrea D' Oria, vol. i. p. 61, that D' Oria refused to accept the submission of the rebel chief in order to prolong his own services has been successfully rebutted by Belgrano, della Vita di Andrea D'Oria di F. D. Guerrazzi, etc., who produces a letter written to the Banca di San Giorgio in which he entreats the Governors to liberate him from the command, "because my being here is greatly to my damage without being of any service to yourselves.")
(2 "Matrimonium, quod multis annis ante . . . contraxerat dirulgavit; ac nuptias quam magnificentissimo apparatu celebravit." Sigonio, De rebus gestis Andreae Doriae) that the best chance of achieving this end lay in allying himself with the interests of Francis.

It would be impossible to lay too much emphasis on the part which the Genoese admiral played in this great duel, and though it does not so much concern Genoa— save inasmuch as D' Oria was one of her citizens—it is necessary that we should look with particular care at the events of the few following years.

History has shown us that whichever of the two rivals retained the services of Andrea D' Oria obtained the mastery of the seas during the period of his allegiance.

To France he rendered distinguished services by relieving the besieged garrison of Marseilles, and capturing both the Prince of Orange and Ugo di Moncada, the Imperial Admiral, in 1525. The star of France seemed to be in the ascendant, and Francis made D' Oria a promise of 15,000 ducats in exchange for the person of the Prince of Orange. Then followed the defeat at Pavia, where Francis himself was made prisoner; and D' Oria during the captivity of the king, enlisted under the banner of Pope Clement VII.

But Rome, too, was to fall a victim to Spain; and while the Constable de Bourbon lay encamped about the city D' Oria freed himself from his obligations, and returned to Francis, in order to profit by the Emperor's pre-occupation, and by releasing Genoa from the Spaniards fulfil the object nearest his heart . With little trouble he drove out both the Governor and the Adorni, so that the city came once more under the tutelage of France. D 'Oria was to receive 36,000 scudi a year for his services as Admiral of the French fleet, and for the use of his eight galleys. The contract then made was to endure until the end of June 1528.


The year 1528, when Andrea had reached an age at which most men begin to look for a quiet decline into the grave, merely marked for him the turning point of his life. Francis had not paid the ransom of the Prince of Orange, had never fulfilled his promise of restoring Savona to Genoa, and D' Oria was owed nearly two years' pay. It is no wonder that he wrote to tell the Grand Master of France that "he did not know how to work miracles, and would be obliged to give up his position in order that others might try to do what he was doing without provisions or money." His remonstrances met with but little sympathy, and there seems to have been a strong party at court opposed to the Admiral's cause; certain it is that his complaints were judged unfounded; he was deprived of his office, and Barbesieux, who was appointed to succeed him, received instructions to proceed to Genoa and take him prisoner.

Andrea had retired to Lerici; hither Barbesieux sent a messenger inviting him to return to Genoa. Andrea replied that he was ill. Barbesieux sailed to Lerici, and asked him to visit him on board. Andrea responded that he was too unwell to leave his bed. In the end the French commander was obliged to interview the wily Genoese in his own chamber, and returned to France without having fulfilled his mission.

As the month of June wore on, and it became evident that D' Oria had no intention of renewing his contract with Francis, that monarch seems to have realised that upon the favour of D' Oria hung the command of the sea, and possibly, the whole fortune of the war. He therefore endeavoured by all the means in his power to retain D' Oria in his allegiance, and offered to give up Savona to the Genoese, and to pay what was due to the Admiral himself. But Andrea had receivrc promises from Francis before, and being no less doubtful of these new proffers, refused to listen.

Nowhere is there proof to support the opinion that before the expiration of his contract with France, D' Oria had made any treaty with the Emperor, though it is evident from the correspondence between the Prince of Orange and the Emperor that he had beer, sounded and found more or less disposed to listen. The new agreement was signed in Madrid on August 2nd, 1528; and among other things it stipulated that Genoa should be free and self-governing; that Savona should be given back; that D' Oria should be Admiralin-chief of the Spanish fleet; and that the duration of the compact should be two years.

D' Oria's first act was to free Genoa from the French His behaviour throughout has been considered as a piece of disinterested patriotism by all those writers who have not paused to consider what a very uncomfortable residence Genoa would afford to one who had flouted the French king to his face, and was actually at war with him at the time. Apart from sentiment, it was necessary to Andrea that the French yoke should be removed, and despite the timidity of the Senate, who implored him to make no disturbance in the state, Andrea sailed to Genoa to effect his purpose. The French galleys in the harbour sailed away, and left the Liberator of his Country free to land unopposed, to march through deserted and plaguestricken streets to the Palazzo Ducale, and to render possible those reforms which have already been described. For his services the Senate accorded him the title of Patrice Pater et Liberator, decreed that a



splendid statue (quanto ornatus erigi poterit) should be set up with a suitable inscription before the Palazzo, and presented him with the palace in Piazza San Matteo referred to at the beginning of the chapter. It was originally built by Cesare D' Oria, son of the gallant Lamba, and his initials C. A. may still be seen beside the coat of arms of the family.

Thus Andrea D' Oria with his galleys, taking with him the terror of his name, passed over into the service of Charles V.

The expeditions which he undertook on behalf of Charles V. must be passed over in silence together with the war against the Turks for which the consecrated sword, cap and girdle were given him by Paul III. as to a defender of the true faith . . nor is it possible to do more than hint at the magnificent reception accorded to the Emperor, who was "so astounded at the sumptuousness of the palace " that when Andrea offered it to him as a gift it was accepted with the stipulation that the D' Oria were to live in it for ever as his tenants. It was on this occasion that Andrea spread a feast, and threw the dishes of gold and silver into the sea, having first taken the precaution of spreading a net to catch them "as it seemed preferable that they should lie in his closets rather than at the bottom of the harbour."

Having great possessions and no son to leave them to Andrea adopted his young cousin Giannettino, about whom a great deal has been written which is untrue. It has been said that his father Tommaso1

1 The following genealogical table will show the relationship of the two D' Oria and their connection with the Cybo and Fieschi, who conspired against them. The various intermarriages will be seen at a glance, as well as the extinction of the Fieschi race which had found a refuge in France.
was poor, and that Giannettino was for some time a weaver's apprentice; whereas Tommaso was one of the Procuratori di San Giorgio, and married the daughter of the rich Lorenzo Grillo, so that Giannettino was passing wealthy before he became heir to Andrea.

The abortive conspiracy which Gianluigi Fieschi launched against Genoa and the D' Oria in 1547 has been given undue importance by all writers from Bonfadio downwards. It is certainly a picturesque incident ; but it did little damage, did not affect the life of the Republic, and caused no change in the form of government. Fieschi hated the D' Oria, and envying their proud position, determined to drag them down by a sudden blow which was to be delivered on the night previous to the election of a new Doge. The important incidents as touching the story of Andrea are the death of Fieschi by drowning, the murder of Giannettino by Fieschi's adherents as he passed through the Porto di San Tommaso, and the subsequent revenge of the Father of his Country.

The Admiral, eighty-one years of age, was ill in bed at the time of the outbreak, and when the news was brought to the palace his servants escaped with him to Masone, about fifteen miles distant. It was here that he was told of Giannettino's death, and heard that the Senate had pardoned the Fieschi on condition that they left the city immediately. The effect on him of these two personal wrongs shows us the strongest, if not the most admirable, side of his character. His hopes were dead with the death of Giannettino, but the hated Fieschi still lived; and Giannettino had left an infant son Gianandrea, eight years of age, who might still become the pride of his house.

Andrea resolved to live until Gianandrea should arrive at years of discretion, and vowed to wipe out the family of the traitors. He ordered the corpse of Gianluigi to be hung up in the city as an object of shame; and when the Senate dissuaded him from such a course set watchmen to guard the spot where the swollen and discoloured body lay floating in the water for two months. With the aid of lawyers he convinced the Senate that their promise of pardon was not binding, and in due course the chief conspirators were condemned to death, and others sentenced to terms of banishment.1 The palace in Vialata was destroyed, and the Fieschi were offered 50,000 crowns for the surrender of the fortress of Montobbio, where they had taken refuge. The offer was refused; and, urged by Andrea, siege was laid to the stronghold for forty-two days by Genoese and Imperial troops. When it fell, through famine and treachery, Gerolamo Fieschi was immediately beheaded. His brother Ottobuono, while fighting for France at Siena, was captured five years later, when the relentless Andrea caused his victim to be placed in a sack and stood by while he was clubbed to death. Scipione alone escaped, and took up his residence at the French court.

Having completed this portion of his self-imposed

1 Guerrazzi says that it was Figuerroa who demanded the extermination of the Fieschi; but in the Spanish documents quoted in the Atti di Ster. Pmt., vol. viii., there is a letter from D' Oria to the Emperor in which he says. . "We are waiting with the utmost impatience for your majesty to show your abhorrence of this abominable treason and the wickedness and presumption of this miscreant Count . . . and as it is of the greatest importance to make an example of him so as to strike terror into the hearts of similar malefactors and to encourage all who are faithful . . . I entreat your majesty not to allow the blood of your servitor Giannettim, to pass unrevenged upon the traitors."

task, D' Oria devoted himself to the education of Gianandrea, at the same time retaining his position as Admiral of Spain, and holding on to life itself by a sheer effort of will until he could safely leave the conduct of affairs in the hands of his adopted son. In spite of his age he carried on a vigorous campaign against the corsair Dragut, and in his eighty-eighth year undertook supreme command of the war in Corsica.

Four years later (1553) when Charles abdicated in favour of his son, Andrea D' Oria's task was done. He was ninety-two years old, and had lived long enough to bridge the gulf left by the death of Giannettino, and to hand over his command to Gianandrea, now a youth of twenty. He retired to Fassuolo, still grieving for his loss, but happy in the thought that his weary eyes would close on the bright prospects of Gianandrea, Commander-in-Chief for the Emperor, who was fighting successfully against the ever advancing Turk.

Then came the news that all was not well with the fleet, as Andrea sat in his arm-chair reviewing the past. Gianandrea had been caught in Malta by the enemy, had lost all his galleys, and was himself in all probability a Turkish galley slave. This was the last stroke; and as they told him the white head sank upon his breast. . except for the slight heaving of the chest old Andrea was at last dead, and dead with the terrible belief that after all Gianandrea had fallen in battle or into the hands of the infidel. The effort to live on and fill the gap had been made in vain.

His servants moved about on tip toe, or conversed in whispers, as the dying man, who had been in turn the scourge of Spain, France, the Papacy and the Turk fought his last battle—with death. Then a courier was announced, and his bearing showed that the news he brought was good news. An attendant crept up to the Admiral, and touching him gently on the shoulder, whispered ..— "A courier."

Andrea opened dying eyes and faltered ..— "What news?"

"By the grace of God, good news."

The courier was admitted, and Andrea tried in vain to read the despatches; his eyes were grown too dim. A page read them through rapidly, while the life flowed back to the sunken cheeks.

Suddenly the dying man sprang unaided from his chair, and stood erect with his arms stretched up towards heaven ..—

"Oh my God! my God! I thank Thee!"

He sank back fainting into the arms of his attendants, and a few days later, November 24th (1560), he complained of great weakness, and had no more hope of living to see the return of Gianandrea. "Tell him," said he, " to serve the Republic and the Emperor with all his might."1

On the following day he died, closing a strenuous existence of nearly ninety-four years' duration with an unexpected gleam of happiness. His remains were placed quietly and by night in the place prepared for him in San Matteo.

For the Genoese he is something of a patron saint. They still talk of the old days of Liberty, and point to

1 The account of Andrea's last moments is taken almost verbatim from Guerrazzi, op. cit. the naked pedestal where once his statue stood; placed there because once

. . . . "He stood before The assembled fathers of the city, and with ringing voice Said . . Citizens and countrymen, our Fatherland Once more is saved. From Frankish yoke And Spanish tyranny I freed it. . see ye That it continue proud and free."1 1 Terenzio Mamiani, Inno a Stmt Elmo.