Palazzo Nicolosio Lomellino

It was built between 1559 and 1565 by Giovan Battista Castello known as the "Bergamasco" and Bernardino Cantone at the behest of Nicolosio Lomellino, an exponent of a Lomellini (family) in full economic and political ascendancy. Related to the prince Andrea Doria, he accumulated considerable capital in the first half of the 16th century as a concessionaire of the lucrative coral fishery on the Tunisian island of Tabarca.^[1] At the beginning of the 17th century the property passed to the Centurione (family) who carried out an internal renovation, then to the Pallavicini, the Raggi and finally to Andrea Podestà, several times mayor of Genoa between 1866 and 1895.

The façade, designed by Bergamasco, is enlivened by a rich decoration in stucco, with winged female herms, supporting the string-course cornice on the ground floor; ribbons and drapes supporting trophies of arms on the first floor; garlands and masks crowning the windows, with classical figures in oval medallions on the second. The antique stucco decoration, applied for the first time in modern times by Raffaello in the Logge vaticane and precociously imported to Genoa by his pupil Perin del Vaga in the decoration of the Villa del Principe, is deployed here for the first time on a large scale covering the entire elevation. Its execution is attributed to Marcello Sparzo.^[2]

Also evident in the festive stucco decoration of the oval atrium is the design intervention of Bergamasco, who was able to introduce the suggestions of the most up-to-date Mannerist culture to Genoa. The decoration unfolds from the central oval medallion with a Scene of triumph of a condottiere surrounded by masks connected to four putti seated on the frame itself, holding a head of fruit festoons, hooked in turn to the frames of the four bas-relief stories, alternating with other ephebic figures seated on the cornice. Despite the complexity of the design, the whole is light and harmonious to the spectator who is introduced to the large courtyard.

The open courtyard is bordered on the sides by the rear wings of the palazzo, while the terraces overlook a grandiose nymphaeum built in the 18th century to a design by Domenico Parodi. The nymphaeum, which harmoniously blends architectural, natural and sculptural elements, is heir to a particularly flourishing tradition in Genoa, which already had illustrious examples in the Villa Pallavicino delle Peschiere, in the villa of the Prince, and in the nearby palazzi di Pantaleo Spinola and Balbi Senarega. Here the architect-sculptor Parodi devised a monumental and unprecedented solution, exploiting the copious waters of Castelletto to connect the courtyard with the garden two levels higher up, entrusting the stucco sculptures of the gigantic tritons and the putto throwing water to his pupil Biggi, while the group of Phaeton falling from the sky placed in the centre of the grotto and crumbled over the centuries by the water is lost.^[3] A garden opens towards the mountain, erected by exploiting the slope of the hill behind.