Description
The Church of San Pietro in Banchi is the church raised above the shops of Piazza Banchi, the old square of bankers and merchants in Genoa's historic centre: you climb up to it by a grand staircase, above a row of shops that paid for its construction.
That is precisely its quirk. To fund it, together with the nearby Loggia dei Mercanti, the Republic rented out and sold the shops and warehouses at street level. So the church was set on a raised terrace, with its façade turned towards the square.
The façade has a three-arched portico with frescoed vaults, two small bell towers at the sides and the theatrical staircase that links it to the square. The façade's decoration was never finished: in its place, in the mid-17th century, Giovanni Battista Baiardo painted trompe-l'œil architecture.
Above rises the large octagonal dome covered in slate tiles, with a third, larger bell tower at the back. The design called for four, but the fourth was never built.
Inside, the single nave is clad in white marble. In the choir, the stuccoes by Marcello Sparzo depict the Passion, the Trinity and the handing of the keys to Saint Peter. In the second chapel on the left is the Immaculate Conception by Andrea Semino, from 1588, among statues of saints by Taddeo Carlone and Daniele Casella.
That chapel is the heart of the story. Work had begun in 1572, but in 1580 the Senate decided to complete the church and dedicate it to the Immaculate Conception, to fulfil a vow made after the plague of 1579. The work was finished in 1585.
Before it there was another church, San Pietro della Porta, next to a gate in the Carolingian walls. It belonged to the monks of Bobbio, who every year received from it chestnuts, oil, figs, wine and two hundred citrons. It burned down in 1398, during a clash between Guelphs and Ghibellines among the bankers' stalls.
On 25 February 1682, on the staircase, two hired killers stabbed the musician Alessandro Stradella to death, perhaps over a love affair: whoever ordered it was never found. In 1942 a bomb tore open the façade and the vault, destroying the two little bell towers: the church was rebuilt as it had been, following old photographs and prints.
That is precisely its quirk. To fund it, together with the nearby Loggia dei Mercanti, the Republic rented out and sold the shops and warehouses at street level. So the church was set on a raised terrace, with its façade turned towards the square.
The façade has a three-arched portico with frescoed vaults, two small bell towers at the sides and the theatrical staircase that links it to the square. The façade's decoration was never finished: in its place, in the mid-17th century, Giovanni Battista Baiardo painted trompe-l'œil architecture.
Above rises the large octagonal dome covered in slate tiles, with a third, larger bell tower at the back. The design called for four, but the fourth was never built.
Inside, the single nave is clad in white marble. In the choir, the stuccoes by Marcello Sparzo depict the Passion, the Trinity and the handing of the keys to Saint Peter. In the second chapel on the left is the Immaculate Conception by Andrea Semino, from 1588, among statues of saints by Taddeo Carlone and Daniele Casella.
That chapel is the heart of the story. Work had begun in 1572, but in 1580 the Senate decided to complete the church and dedicate it to the Immaculate Conception, to fulfil a vow made after the plague of 1579. The work was finished in 1585.
Before it there was another church, San Pietro della Porta, next to a gate in the Carolingian walls. It belonged to the monks of Bobbio, who every year received from it chestnuts, oil, figs, wine and two hundred citrons. It burned down in 1398, during a clash between Guelphs and Ghibellines among the bankers' stalls.
On 25 February 1682, on the staircase, two hired killers stabbed the musician Alessandro Stradella to death, perhaps over a love affair: whoever ordered it was never found. In 1942 a bomb tore open the façade and the vault, destroying the two little bell towers: the church was rebuilt as it had been, following old photographs and prints.