The Imperial Palace, located in the heart of Genoa’s historic centre, at piazza Campetto, next to Porto Antico and a just few steps away from the Cattedrale di San Lorenzo and the Palazzo Ducale, is a premier venue for internationally-recognized art exhibitions.

It was built around 1560 by Vincenzo Imperiale, on the design of Giovanni Battista Castello, nicknamed il Bergamasco. Il Bergamasco looked after both the architectural structure of the building and the selection of frescoes ornating the interior vaults, along with other artists of the time, Luca Cambiaso and Bernardo Castello.
Tangible sign of the prestige held by the Imperial Palace is its addition to the list of the most beautiful palaces which, by decree of the Senate of the Republic of Genoa, met the standards of class and elegance to host illustrious figures of the time during their official visits to the Doge.

The building was partly damaged during the bombing by the naval fleet of Louis XIV which struck Genoa in 1684 and suffered further deterioration in the following centuries. Thanks to the current restoration works, the palace has recovered some of the most beautiful frescoes made by the above-mentioned Genoese masters of the late 1500s: on the second main floor you can admire the friezes with the Parcae (Greek goddesses in charge of human destiny) as well as remarkable frescoes such as “L’imbarco di Elena” by Cambiaso and the representation of “la Conquista di Gerusalemme” by Bernardo Castello.

The facade’s figurative framework, with its elevations decorated with stuccoes and frescoes, is created taking into account the peculiar glimpse and perspective view given by the bottom up approach typically employed in the Genoese palaces inserted in the thick Medieval urban fabric.