Santa Maria Assunta, Genoa

Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta
Façade of the Basilica.
Basic information
Location	Genoa, Italy
Geographic coordinates	Coordinates: 44°24′07.33″N 8°56′06.35″E / 44.4020361°N 8.9350972°E / 44.4020361; 8.9350972
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Province	Genoa
Country	Italy
Year consecrated	1951
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	National monument
Status	Active
Architectural description
Architectural type	Church
Architectural style	Renaissance
Groundbreaking	1522
Completed	19c

Santa Maria Assunta is a Renaissance church in Genoa, Italy. It is located on a residential sector called Carignano located on the hills just above city center, thus the church is also known as Santa Maria Assunta di Carignano.

It was designed in 1522 by the Perugian architect Galeazzo Alessi by will of a Genoese patrician, Bandinello Sauli, who had died in 1481. The construction lasted from more than fifty years. The dome was completed in 1603, after the church had been consecrated in 1583. In the 19th century the façade was reconstructed by Carlo Barabino.

In 1951 it received the rank of basilica and was reconsecrated as such by cardinal Giuseppe Siri. In 1999 it housed the funerals of singer-songwriter Fabrizio De André.

The church is on the Greek cross plan with four similar façades on each side. There are five domes and two squared-plan bell towers (four in the original design) at the Neoclassic main façade. The facade has two statues by Claude David.

The interior is lavishly decorated by late Renaissance and Baroque artists.

The four niches of the interior of the pylons of the dome have statues of Blessed Alessandro Sauli and St Sebastian (1668), (right) by Pierre Puget; and on the left, St Bartholomew (1695), by Claude David and St John the Baptist by Filippo Parodi. Along the walls, the statues of apostles and doctors of the church were completed by 1740 by Francesco Schiaffino.

The altars along the right nave include paintings of St Peter Healing the Lame (1694–1696) at the first altar by Domenico Piola; Martyrdom di San Biagio, (1680) at the second altar by Carlo Baratta;Resurrection of Christ, lateral to 2nd altar by Aurelio Lomi e Annunciation by Ottavio Semino;Virgin with Saints Domenic and Rosa at the third altar by Paolo Gerolamo Piola; Viaticum of St. Magdalene at the fourth altar by Francesco Vanni.