Feudi imperiali liguri ed età moderna: il destino dei castellinell’Oltregiogo genovese

• Paolo Granara ^[1]
  1. [1] Architetto, DM-SHS - Dipartimento DIDA UNIFI, Firenze, Italy
• Localización: FORTMED2023. Defensive architecture of the mediterranean : vol. XIII, XIV, XV / Marco Giorgio Bevilacqua (dir. congr.), Denise Ulivieri (aut.), 2023, ISBN 978-84-1396-129-3, págs. 613-620
• Idioma: italiano
• Enlaces
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• Resumen

  • With the advent of the modern age, in the territories of the “imperial fiefdoms” of Valle Scrivia behind Genoa - ruled by city families but subject to imperial jurisdiction between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries - we are witnessing a process of profound renewal of the feudal society that it moves from the castle perched on the heights to the newly built palace-fortress at the bottom of the valley, where the function of representation is associated with the defensive role. A more comfortable residence suited to the noble owners, contiguous to the main road to allow the Lord quick connections with Genoa - the place of origin of the family, where he continues to carry out his commercial and political activity. The aristocratic families (Spinola and Fieschi, Adorno, Pallavicino) moved within a few decades from the Castle to the Palace (Ronco, Arquata, Pietrabissara, Crocefieschi, Savignone), with some exceptions where the geographical and political conditions determine a different destiny for the original building: in some cases the castle itself was transformed into a palace (Montessoro), before being abandoned in favour of a new building (Borgo Fornari); or it is enlarged and converted into a fortress (Gavi and Serravalle); in the more isolated areas it is finally abandoned once its importance has been lost (Castello della Pietra di Vobbia).The new buildings are sturdy and austere, far from the refined style of the villa residences built at the same time in the suburbs of Genoa, but based on the same typological and architectural characteristics: the atrium-staircasenoble hall system develops within a building volume that it imposes itself on the surrounding landscape, overlooking it through loggias and large openings.In the manner of the Pre-Alessian and Alessian Villas built in the Genoese districts of Albaro and Sampierdarena, the new buildings constitute the nodes of an efficient political and military control network of the ‘Oltregiogo’ lands, along the connecting axis between the sea and the great plain, straddling the Apennines.