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Villa Durazzo-Pallavicini

Villa Durazzo-Pallavicini's theatrical romantic park in Genoa's Pegli district, voted Italy's most beautiful garden.

  • Genoa
  • Villa
Plan your visit
Where
Genoa
Best for
Three-act romantic park
Allow
1 hr 30 min

Clelia Durazzo Grimaldi planted a botanical garden here in the late 1700s, but it was her nephew's set designer, Michele Canzio of Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice, who turned the grounds into theater when he built the park between 1840 and 1846.

Canzio staged the ninety-seven-thousand-square-meter park as a drama in three acts, Return to Nature, Memory and Purification, scattering temples, a pagoda, an obelisk and artificial ruins along the paths as scenery for a promenade meant to be walked like a story. The park opened in September 1846 to immediate national fame and was voted Italy's most beautiful garden in 2017. The villa itself, in Genoa's Pegli district beside the railway station, now houses the Museo di Archeologia Ligure.

Five things worth finding

If you see nothing else, see these.

  1. The three-act parkMichele Canzio, 1840 to 1846

    Designed by a Teatro Carlo Felice set designer as a stage play with a prologue and three acts, Return to Nature, Memory and Purification, with structures as scenery.Across the hillside behind the villa

  2. The Dantesque grottoMichele Canzio

    A walk through an inferno with a subterranean lake, ascending to paradise. In earlier years visitors crossed the water by boat.Inside the park

  3. The Coffee House triumphal archMichele Canzio

    A pavilion shaped like a triumphal arch, the most theatrical of the structures.Among the park’s follies

  4. The pagoda and the Turkish templeMichele Canzio

    Exotic follies in the romantic tradition, together with a Temple of Diana, an obelisk and a mausoleum, each a scene in the story.Along the garden paths

  5. The Museo di Archeologia Ligure

    A compact archaeological museum on Liguria’s prehistory, housed in the villa beside the station.In the villa itself

Plan your visit

Everything you need before you go.

Booking
No booking needed
Time needed
1 hr 30 min
Best time
A weekday morning in spring, when the garden's follies are least crowded
Getting there
Right beside Genova Pegli train station, a short regional-train ride from central Genoa.

Follow the path in the order Canzio intended rather than cutting across: the follies are staged to be discovered in sequence, and shortcuts spoil the effect.

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Good to know

How long should you spend at Villa Durazzo-Pallavicini?

Allow about an hour and a half for the park’s main follies and the grotto. The grounds cover about ninety-seven thousand square meters on a slope, so keen garden lovers can stay longer. Add time if you also go through the archaeology museum.

Is Villa Durazzo-Pallavicini worth visiting?

Yes. It opened in 1846 to national fame and was voted Italy’s most beautiful garden in 2017. It is a romantic theatrical park rather than a flower garden, which makes it distinctive. Visit on a weekday morning in spring for the fewest crowds.

How do you get to Villa Durazzo-Pallavicini from central Genoa?

By regional train to Genova Pegli. The villa is right beside the station, so you do not need a car or a taxi. It makes an easy half-day trip from the city center.

More to see nearby

Same city first, then the nearest across the region.

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