Palazzo Doria-Tursi

Built 1565, for Nicolo Grimaldi on the Via Garibaldi that is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is situated next to two other equally notable buildings: the Palazzo Rosso and the Palazzo Bianco. The Palazzo Doria-Tursi was built during the ‘Golden Century of Genoa’. It houses the boardrooms of the Mayor of Genoa and its vast and monumental halls display famous items, such as the "Guarneri del Gesù" the violin that once belonged to Paganini. There is also a remarkable collection of decorative arts; and, coins, weights and measures from the old Republic of Genoa. The Palazzo Doria-Tursi featured in Peter Paul Rubens' book Palazzi di Genova (1622). Through that book, architect Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895) used it as the main inspiration for the famous American mansion, The Breakers, built for the Vanderbilt family in 1895.