Via Garibaldi (Strade Nuove)

UNESCO-listed Renaissance street lined with the palaces of Genoa's merchant bankers

The finest Renaissance street in northern Italy, Via Garibaldi was laid out between 1550 and 1570 as a planned development of patrician palaces. Both sides of the street are lined with buildings of extraordinary quality: deep courtyards, grand staircases, painted ceilings, and collections of paintings assembled by the Genoese banking families who built them.

Three of the palaces are open as museums: Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Bianco, and Palazzo Tursi (which houses the Paganini violin collection). The combined ticket covers all three. The street itself, regardless of whether you go inside, is worth walking slowly — the interplay of facades, the scale of the entrances, and the glimpses into courtyards all repay attention. UNESCO recognised the street and the related Rolli palaces as a World Heritage Site in 2006.

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A story
Via Garibaldi was built in the mid-16th century as a speculative development by Genoa's wealthiest families, who agreed to build palaces to a unified standard of grandeur. It was the most expensive street in Europe when completed. Rubens visited and published a book of the palaces' drawings in 1622, spreading their influence across northern Europe.