Potius mori quam foedari
The complex of San Domenico was one of the largest in Genoa. The twenty-two chapels of San Domenico were almost entirely under the patronage of the noble families Doria Spinola, Centurion, Sauli, Cattaneo, De Marini and Negro, amongst others.
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In the interior there were more than twenty chapels, enriched with precious marbles and works of art of the most important Genoese artists, especially those of the 17th century.
Between them, three chapels were under Spinola patronage. These were Santissimo Crocifisso, del Santo Nome del Signore and Santa Caterina da Siena, while, for the chapel of St Peter Martyr, two famous Spinola are mentioned.
In 1644, Felice Spinola of Augustine built the important funeral monument to Francesco Spinola, along with numerous Spinola tombstones and access to the church by a stairway. This was located on the longer side, toward the church of S. Matthew, called ‘Porta di San Martino.
Image taken from the site: Http://www.lionsclubpegli.org/lcpinfrastr/storia/giorninostri/20102011storia/110204/110204_serata.html
Teatro Carlo Felice
Passo Eugenio Montale 4
16121 Genova
The church and convent were suppressed in 1797 and demolished in 1825. Located in Piazza De Ferrari, it occupied the area of today’s Carlo Felice theatre and the nearby Ligurian Academy Museum of Fine Arts.
The chapel del Santissimo Crocifisso (of the Holy Crucifix):
Of the Spinola of Filigella’, it was instituted by Lucchinetta, daughter of Francesco Spinola, first wife of Raffaele Imperiale. In her second marriage, she was the wife of Federico Spinola.During the time in which the chapel of the Rosary had a more elegant form, the Holy Crucifix was removed with the consent of Violantina, Daughter of Giacomo Spinola and wife of Paul Serra.
The chapel del Santo Nome del Signore (Holy Name of the LORD):
This chapel enjoyed the giuspatronato (duty or privilege) of the Spinola family and was built in 1423 at the request of Emanuele and Raffaele Spinola.The painting located above the altar was by Giulio Cesare Procaccini and portrayed ‘The mystery of the circumcision of the Lord’. Outside in the top left of the chapel is the upper part of the funerary monument to Francesco Spinola, who died in 1442 in Finale Ligure. He is depicted as the liberator of Gaeta from the weapons of Alfonso of Aragon and Genoa, from the seigniory of the Viscounts. Originally, when the painting was within the framework of the ‘coro vecchio’ (old choir) the monument also consisted of a sarcophagus depicting the ‘Triumph of Bacchus’.
The chapel of Santa Caterina da Siena
“The fathers assigned it to Mr. Gio.Battista Spinola quondam Simone and Madam Margaritina his wife” The same dowry was confirmed in 1540 by Simon, the son and heir “With the condition that the income should serve in perpetual only towards the restoration of the Church”. He become doge in 1567 and oversaw the rebuilding of the chapel as well as his marble tomb. Moreover, he also commissioned a painting of S. Caterina from Antonio Semino, along with his own portrait from the same artist. He was buried in 1569 in “his magnificent marble deposit with a statue reclining in the clothes of the doge” with the following inscription:
D.O.M.
SIMON SPINULA CONSILIO PIETATE
AC ELOQUENTIA ADMIRABILIS MIRO
CIVIUM CONSENSU DUX ELECTUS CUMSEGEND
REIPUBLICAE SUMMOPERE PROFUISSET
DUCALE ADHUC MUNUS SUSTINENSSEGEND
OBIIT ANNO SALUTIS MDLXIX»
The chapel of San Pietro Martire:
De Agostini wrote “Under the name of S. Ludovico, our Order, having no dowry, was under the patronage of a certain Stefano and Gio.Battista Spinola, sons of Peter, that on the feast of this saint were usual to offer our Convent a lunch”.
Funeral monument to Francesco Spinola:
In his book, the History of the Church and the Convent of San Domenico in Genoa, William Piastra harks back to a privileged source. This was Friar Tommaso De Agostini, with his Elenchica Synopsis, idest strictum ac verum compedium fundationis, obbligationis increments, et redditus famous Conventus Divi Dominici Januae. The friar’s work dedicates a small study (pp. 38-40) to the funeral monument of Francesco Spinola. In origin it was in the context of the old choir compound in its integrity, namely from the high relief of Patrick astride a horse and the Greco-Roman sarcophagus depicting the Triumph of Bacchus. The latter was a gift of the city of Gaeta in perennial gratitude toward the Genoese condottiere that had strived so hard to free it. Because it was considered impractical that a sarcophagus with a carved pagan theme should be in a place of worship, it was moved several times up until 1638. This was the year Francesco Maria Spinola of G. Baptist asked the convent to return it to the Spinola family, something that could not happen without arousing a degree of controversy. It was transferred in via Luccoli to the palace of the Marquis Giambattista Spinola quondam Francesco Maria. The high relief with Francesco Spinola astride a horse remained inside the church until 1824, when it was collected by the Spinola family. It was stored for about half a century until the Marquis Franco Gaetano Spinola decided to place it in the courtyard of his palace in Pellicceria.
Vico San Luca, 1
16123 Genoa, Italy
c.f. 95023180102
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