Description
Piazza San Matteo is the little square of the Doria family in the heart of Genoa's old town: a Gothic church and the family's palaces, striped in white marble and black stone, gathered around a raised churchyard. Its look has changed little since the Middle Ages.
On one side stands the church of San Matteo, rebuilt in 1278, with a cloister from the early 14th century and, inside, the marbles and frescoes commissioned by Andrea Doria.
All around are the palaces of Lamba, Branca and Giorgio Doria, the last with a 15th-century portal by Giovanni Gagini, and the palace of Andrea Doria, which the Senate gave to the admiral in 1528 as "Father of the Fatherland."
Why Saint Matthew, of all saints? A Doria founded the first church in 1125, and the family chose as its patron the apostle who had been a tax collector, a trade the Dorias knew well.
On one side stands the church of San Matteo, rebuilt in 1278, with a cloister from the early 14th century and, inside, the marbles and frescoes commissioned by Andrea Doria.
All around are the palaces of Lamba, Branca and Giorgio Doria, the last with a 15th-century portal by Giovanni Gagini, and the palace of Andrea Doria, which the Senate gave to the admiral in 1528 as "Father of the Fatherland."
Why Saint Matthew, of all saints? A Doria founded the first church in 1125, and the family chose as its patron the apostle who had been a tax collector, a trade the Dorias knew well.