Villa Spinola di San Pietro

The villa Spinola di San Pietro is a  patrician villa situated in the genovese district of Sampierdarena, built in the second half of the XVI centuary by Giovanni Battista Lercari, doge of the Republic of Genoa in 1563-1565.

Giovanni Battista Lercari had a Domus Magna built at Sampierdarena, obtained by the combination of pre-existing buildings, embellished by gardens and fountains, powered by an aqueduct that he had commissioned.

The mixture of local elements and influences by Galeazzo Alessi (1512-1572), the most eminent architectural personality then in Genoa, brings attention to the figure of Bernardino Cantone (1505-1576) as an architect.  In those years Cantone was a close collaborator of Alessi in the building of the Basilica of Carignano. The fact of finding Cantone also active in Sampierdarena is a confirmation of the trust that was placed in him by the nobility that wanted to affirm their social positions through the construction of sumptuous residences, .

The villa was certainly finished in 1582 when the apostolic visitor, Monsignor Bosio, “suggests” some interventions to the chapel that seem to be that of simple refinement (from the Remondini 1897…” to the left side of the porch, the Spinola family erected a private chapel, beautiful for the ancient marble altar that adorns it…”). Giovanni Battista Spinola, first Duke of San Pietro in Galatina and buyer of the Palazzo di Antonio Doria, in 1596 married Maria Spinola (?-1642) daughter of Filippo, son of Ambrogio, sister of the famous leader. Giovanni Battista Spinola is also responsible for interventions and embellishments of the structure of the Villa.

At the death of Giovanni Battista Spinola, the villa inherited by his eldest son, Maria (1602-1666),was magnificent and difficult to improve It was not by chance that the house was chosen to host illustrious personalities visiting Genoa As established by the rules of the trust, after the death of Giovanni Battista, only the first born could avail of the goods subject to the Lercari fideicommissum. It will be the only son of Gio. .Filippo (1609-1660) brother of Gio Maria, Duke Francesco Maria (1659-1727), to restore centrality to the main villa of the house In fact, it was personally chosen by Filippo V, on his return journey to Madrid, for his stay over in the autumn of 1702..

The next Duke Gio. Filippo was very active in Sampierdarena and several activities are attested in the years of his administration.

In the second half of the XVIII century, the villa was involved in the general decline that concerned the family, whose secular and firm unity was broken between patrimonial claims and costly legal battles. In 1784, the Spinola family branch of San Pietro died out with the death of the duke Gio .Giuseppe Spinola (1714-1784) son of Gio Filippo, who lived in Naples for almost thirty years. (Freely taken from “Palazzo Doria Spinola, Architettura ed arredi di una dimora aristocratica genovese da un inventario del 1727” by Roberto Santamaria, 2011 Recco (GE), Le Mani Editore, pag 407-442).

In 1875, after a long series of different ownerships the villa, visited by Federico Alizeri, belongs to the Dame del Sacro Cuore. Today it is the seat of the Liceo Statale Piero Gobetti.