The definition of Via dei Palazzi Letterari stems from the research made in recent years by Barbara Bernabò, with most of the findings published on the Quaderni of the Culture Centre “L’Agave”.
A new project was developed based on these studies. Designed and donated by the “Agave” Association to the Municipality of Chiavari, the project aims to highlight a particular street in the ancient borough of Chiavari, now the main thoroughfare Via Ravaschieri – Via Raggio. Along this route, a series of remarkable buildings stand in alignment, some connected to Italian literary masterpieces: Palazzo dei Portici Neri, mentioned in Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto; Palazzo Ravaschieri, referenced in the Novelle by Matteo Bandello; and Palazzo Cesena, linked to one of the Genoese ladies beloved by poet Ugo Foscolo.
It is both a chronological journey through Italian literature and a “physical” path that highlights the urgent need for renovation of the “monumental” buildings in Chiavari’s historic centre.
Palazzo dei Portici Neri (Piazza Fenice)
Built in the 13th century, directly beneath the Rock of Chiavari and near the city walls, the palace belonged to Opizzo Fieschi, the brother of Pope Innocent IV (Sinibaldo Fieschi) and the paternal uncle of several figures mentioned in Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia:
- Bonifacio Fieschi, archbishop of Ravenna (1275-1294), in the circle of the Gluttonous, (Purgatory, XXIV, 28-30);
- Adriano V (Ottobuono Fieschi), pope just for one month in 1276, in the circle of the Avaricious (Purgatory, XIX, 88-145). As he speaks to Dante, he fondly remembers his niece Alagia, the virtuous wife of Moroello Malaspina of Giovagallo.
In the 16th century, the descendants of one of the Opizzo brothers are mentioned among the great Italian lords in Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto (Canto XXVI):
- Sinibaldo Fieschi, father of the infamous Gianluigi, who organized the 1547 conspiracy against prince Andrea Doria;
- Ottobuono Fieschi, Sinibaldo’s brother, bishop of Mondovì (1519-1522);
- Luigi Gonzaga, lord of Gazzuolo, renowned for his extraordinary physical strength and known as Rodomonte, who served as an imperial captain under Charles V. In addition to his military role, Gonzaga was also a poet and a man of letters. He was the son of Sinibaldo and Ottobuono’s sister, as well as the father of Vespasiano Gonzaga, the future duke of Sabbioneta;
Claudia Fieschi, a natural daughter of Sinibaldo, is the protagonist of a captivating short story by Matteo Bandello. A tale of love and death set in a 16th-century Chiavari, within the walls of Palazzo Ravaschieri (Via Ravaschieri 19).
Two centuries later, Palazzo Cesena (Via Raggio, no. 2) reflects the vibrant cultural scene of late 18th-century Genoa, where women led the city’s most fashionable cultural circles. They were joined by progressive and pro-France artists, intellectuals, and poets, such as Ugo Foscolo, Giovanni Fantuzzi, Giuseppe Giulio Ceroni, and Antonio Gasparinetti — all officers of the Gazan division — who wrote the poems dedicated to Luigia Ferrari Pallavicini after she suffered a severe fall from a horse. Among these works, we recognize the famous Foscolian Ode “A Luigia Pallavicini caduta da cavallo.”
In December 1799, the officer and literate Angelo Petracchi published a poems collection, Galleria Ligure, in which he celebrated the most beautiful ladies of Genoa, including the charming brunette Annetta (Anna Viani Cesena). Shortly after, the Jacobin poet from Verona, Giuseppe Giulio Ceroni, paid tribute to the city’s beautiful ladies in his fable in ottava rima Il Pappagalletto, in which he recalls a blackcap (the same Anna Viani) vainly sought after by the finch of Adria (Ugo Foscolo).
Anna Viani, Genoese by birth, was married to the noble Camillo Cesena. She lived extensively in the Chiavarese palace belonging to her husband’s family, where her two children were born before she returned to her hometown.
