Palazzi dei Rolli

The Palazzi dei Rolli is a group of palaces in Genoa, northern Italy.

On July 13, 2006, forty-two of eighty subscribers to 'Palazzi dei Rolli' or rolls' palaces were entered by the special committee UNESCO meeting in Vilnius (Lithuania) between the members. About 10 million euro was spent on their restoration in the 1990s with the use of public and private capital.

On January 20, 2007, a plaque was placed by UNESCO at the beginning of Via Garibaldi on the grounds that it inserts the description of Palazzi dei Rolli within the world heritage listing:

The largest homes, various in shape and distribution, that were chosen at random in the lists (rolli) to host visits of state. The buildings, often built on sloping land, formed of a stepped atrium - courtyard - staircase - garden and rich interior decorations, express a singular social and economic identity and commencement of modern age urban architecture in Europe.

The Rolli di Genova - or, more precisely, Rolli degli alloggiamenti pubblici di Genova - formed an official list at the time of the Republic of Genoa, of public lodging palaces and mansions of eminent Genoese families, which aspired to host - from a public lottery - the persons in transit for visits of state.

In later times the same homes have hosted the distinguished visitors which included the Ligurian capital in their Grand Tour cultural and / or tourist itinerary.

The Rolli represent a set or un unicum of the most prestigious palaces of Genoa especially along the oldest roads of the Nuove Strade (Via Garibaldi with its commune, in those days termed Via Aurea, and via Balbi, home of the university town).

The rolli or rolls were created in 1576, open to the aristocratic Senate refounded by Prince (and Admiral) Andrea Doria, which through his constitutional reform introduced oligarchic rule and the subsequent insertion into the Genoese sovereignty of Spain.

The thoroughness with which Rolli were designed and completed only a few decades after the great urban restructuring decided by Doria - concentrated particularly between 1536 and 1553 between the fourteenth century strong Genoese walls - is still clear and documented evidence of Genoa during its "Golden Century". What was a city of shipowners, merchants and bankers in a position to give the Republic a role in maritime absolute dominance over the political and commercial Mediterranean Sea, was also an important crossroads for princes and kings, diplomats and ecclesiastical authority.

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