Timeline

Palazzo San Giorgio through the ever-changing world

  • Keys:
  • International events
  • Local events: Genoa and Palazzo San Giorgio

timeline-it

1133
1133

The Ripa Maris portico is built and, in its centre, the first nucleus of Palazzo San Giorgio – Genoa’s first public palace – is built.

1256
1256

The popular uprising brought Guglielmo Boccanegra – Captain of the People – to power and the following year he entrusted Friar Oliverio, a Cistercian monk, with the task of planning and supervising the construction of the Palace, which was named Palacium Comunis Janue de Ripa.

1260
1260

Palazzo San Giorgio is built.

1261
1261

The Treaty of Nymphaeum is signed. In exchange for the maritime defence of Constantinople, Genoa gained commercial privileges and the control of the Black Sea straits.

1262
1262

Guglielmo Boccanegra is forced to flee due to the return of the oligarchy and the Palace loses its function as a public building.

1285
1285

Genoa mints its own currency called Genovino.

1298
1298

Legend has it that Marco Polo was imprisoned in Palazzo San Giorgio and dictated The Travels of Marco Polo to Rustichello da Pisa.

1333
1333

Palazzo San Giorgio turns into the Customs House.

1337
1337

Up to 1453 Hundred Years’ War between France and England.

1339
1339

Simone Boccanegra is elected the first Genoese Doge.

1348
1348

Outbreak of the Black Death in Europe.

1351
1351

Up to 1355 War between Venice and Genoa for commercial supremacy in the East.

1396
1396

During the first French domination of Genoa, Governor Boucicault created the Compere di San Giorgio.

1407
1407

Palazzo San Giorgio becomes the seat of the Bank of Saint George and the following year it is authorised to open a public bank providing deposit and credit facilities.

1451
1451

Palazzo San Giorgio is definitively granted to the Bank of Saint George.

1453
1453

Gutenberg’s printing house in Mainz gave rise to printing using moveable type.

1453

Constantinople is conquered by the Turks. In the same year, the Casa di San Giorgio conquers a part of Corsica.

1455
1455

Up to 1485 England, War of the Roses.

1470
1470

The renovation of Palazzo San Giorgio begins.

1492
1492

Christopher Columbus discovers America. Lorenzo de’ Medici, known as the Magnificent, dies.

1509
1509

The Palace body is enlarged towards the sea and fitted with a grandiose loggia.

1513
1513

Niccolò Machiavelli writes The Prince.

1543
1543

Nicholas Copernicus develops the heliocentric theory, i.e., the theory stating that the Earth revolves around the sun; this puts him at odds with the Church.

1571
1571

The last great constructions on the sea side of Palazzo San Giorgio are carried out, giving the palace its current appearance.

1590
1590

Andrea Semino paints the first frescoes on the façade of the Palace.

1606
1606

Up to 1608 As the government of the Bank of Saint George was not satisfied with Semino’s work, the painter Lazzaro Tavarone once again decorates the façade of Palazzo San Giorgio.

1620
1620

The first Pilgrim Fathers arrive in America on the ship Mayflower.

1630
1630

Up to 1656 Plague kills more than two million people in Italy.

1750
1750

The industrial revolution begins.

1797
1797

Under Napoleonic rule, the aristocratic Republic of Genoa ends. The Palace is once again used as a customs house, but there are also warehouses and prisons and its structures are severely damaged.

1805
1805

The Italian Republic becomes the Kingdom of Italy and Napoleon is crowned king.

1805

The Bank of Saint George ends its activities and is liquidated by the French.

1814
1814

The Duchy of Genoa becomes part of the Kingdom of Savoy.

1859
1859

British biologist Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species.

1861
1861

Unification of Italy and Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy.

1862
1862

The Italian lira becomes the official currency.

1889
1889

Anton Giulio Barrili, Arrigo Boito and Giosuè Carducci object to the demolition of Palazzo San Giorgio, whose survival is jeopardised by the development of the road network linking the two coasts of the region, from west to east.

1890
1890

Alfredo D’Andrade, Fine Arts Superintendent for the Aosta Valley, Piedmont and Liguria, launches the major restoration work on Palazzo San Giorgio.

1904
1904

The Palace becomes the headquarters of the Autonomous Port Consortium, an organisation set up in 1903.

1912
1912

The restoration of the façade by Lodovico Pogliaghi is completed and the great ceremonial staircase is built by Marco Aurelio Crotta.

1914
1914

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria dies in an assassination attempt in Sarajevo by a young Serbian anarchist. Ultimatum to Serbia and outbreak of the First World War.

1918
1918

End of the First World War.

1922
1922

Palazzo San Giorgio hosts the Genoa Economic and Financial Conference attended by the ministers of the states that took part in the First World War. In the same year, the Palace is attacked by fascists who depose President Nino Ronco.

1939
1939

Up to 1945 Second World War.

194212
1942

Part of the palace is destroyed by bombing on 22 October.

194612
1946

The post-war restoration of the Palace begins.

198912
1989

The last restoration of the Palace is undertaken on the occasion of the Columbus celebrations. The frescoes on the façade are repainted by Raimondo Sirotti.

199412
1994

Palazzo San Giorgio becomes the seat of the Port Authority of Genoa.

201612
2016

Palazzo San Giorgio becomes the seat of the Western Ligurian Sea Port System Authority.