Description
The Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato, the "Nunziata" to the Genoese, is one of the most sumptuous churches in Genoa: behind a neoclassical facade with six Ionic columns, a stone's throw from Via Balbi, it hides the greatest artistic undertaking of 17th-century Genoa.
Inside, three naves covered in frescoes, inlaid marble and pure gold stucco, paid for by the fabulously wealthy Lomellini family in exchange for using the church as their family chapel. High above is the dome painted by Andrea Ansaldo with the Ascension of the Virgin; in the transept and the nave, the frescoes of the brothers Giovanni and Giovanni Battista Carlone.
On October 29, 1943, bombs brought down stucco and marble slabs, uncovering the Gothic columns, banded in black and white, of the 16th-century church. The lost frescoes can still be spotted by the bare plaster left during the reconstruction.
As early as the 18th century, the philosopher Montesquieu judged it the most beautiful church in Genoa.
Inside, three naves covered in frescoes, inlaid marble and pure gold stucco, paid for by the fabulously wealthy Lomellini family in exchange for using the church as their family chapel. High above is the dome painted by Andrea Ansaldo with the Ascension of the Virgin; in the transept and the nave, the frescoes of the brothers Giovanni and Giovanni Battista Carlone.
On October 29, 1943, bombs brought down stucco and marble slabs, uncovering the Gothic columns, banded in black and white, of the 16th-century church. The lost frescoes can still be spotted by the bare plaster left during the reconstruction.
As early as the 18th century, the philosopher Montesquieu judged it the most beautiful church in Genoa.