This ancestral home of the Balbi family was enlarged by Gio.Francesco, the Governor of the Republic (1588/3 rolls), who altered the original nucleus by incorporating some adjacent building.
It stands in a good corner position to the south of the road and was further enlarged in the early 17th century. The modificaions were carried out by Francesco’son Stefano (1614 rolls) and modified the front overlooking the street, opening an imposing, arcaded front with an “acrobatic” re-incorporation (on the present perimeter). In the rolls of 1664 it was still given as the property of Balby family but it was later inherited by Cattaneo family, which commissioned the architect Gregorio Pettondi during the 18th century to add stuccoed decorations to the façade and interior.
During the Second World War the roof collapsed. Rebuild was carried out by Luigi Carlo Daneri, who kept closely to the original design, also restoring structural and decorative features.
Updated bibliography post 1998
P. Boccardo, C. Di Fabio (a cura di), El Siglo de los Genoveses e una lunga storia di Arte e Splendori nel Palazzo dei Dogi, Catalogo della mostra, (Genova), Milano 1999
D. Sanguineti, Gio. Enrico Vaymer, Genova 1999
D. Sanguineti, Genovesi in posa. Artefici del ritratto e tipologie, in E. Gavazza, L. Magnani, Pittura e decorazione a Genova e in Liguria nel Settecento, Genova 2000
E. Poleggi (a cura di), L’invenzione dei Rolli. Genova, città di Palazzi, Catalogo della mostra, (Genova), Milano 2004
A. Orlando (a cura di), I Fiori del Barocco. Pittura a Genova dal Naturalismo al Rococò, Catalogo della mostra, (Genova), Milano 2006
R. Vitiello, Palazzo Balbi Cattaneo, in Città, Ateneo, Immagine. Patrimonio storico artistico e sedi dell’Università di Genova, a cura di L. Magnani, Genova. 2014
D. Sanguineti, Genovesi in posa. Appunti sulla ritrattistica tra fine Seicento e Settecento, Genova 2011
The texts have been updated thanks to the INSIDE STORIES project financed with funds - Law no. 77 of 20 February 2006 "Special measures for the protection and enjoyment of Italian sites of cultural, landscape and environmental interest, included in the "World Heritage List", under the protection of UNESCO.
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