Italy is not only Rome, Florence and Venice, for many cities less famous as cultural centres contains a wealth of history and art. Genoa is one of these, although it can take some finding among the confusion of modern development. With or close to the historic centre of Genoa are some forty churches, many of outstanding interest and beauty. Scholarly works have been written about some of them, but no introductory guide to them exists for the visitor and general reader. This book is a modest attempt to draw attention to some of the city’s wonderful examples of religious architecture and art.
Surviving from the high Middle Ages are half a dozen Romanesque churches, faced with their characteristic bands of white and black stone, among them the imposing Cathedral of San Lorenzo. But the salient fact in the history of the Genoese churches was the process by which the new fashions of the Renaissance and the Baroque swept through city, between 1550 and 1700, some dozen churches of ancient foundation were rebuilt or renovated in the new styles, while another dozen new churches arose where none had been before. Many of these churches were built and maintained under personal patronage of the great mercantile families of Genoa, Doria, Grimaldi, Spinola and others. In the nineteenth century a new wave of church building, undertaken to cope with the expanding population, saw a wide range of styles: neo-Classical, neo-Renaissance and Neo Gothic. In the twentieth century many large ambitious church were built, partly to replace those damaged or destroyed during the war, and some of these are remarkable and eclectic in style. Although not claiming to absolute completeness, this guide describes almost fifty churches, all visited and photographed by the author. Anyone seeking an Italian city full of life and off the main tourist trail, would enjoy visiting Genoa, and its charges are certainly a little-known treasure.
86 pages Illustrated throughout in colour £8.00
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