The Search for the Column of Infamy

Sometimes I get excited about the strangest things, and last night was no exception.  I love art and architecture, and so last night I was reading up on architectural styles common in Genova,  I found a reference to Colonna Infame, The Column of Infamy!  Why haven't I ever heard of this before??  I need to find it, and I need to find it now!

So early this morning, Ollie and I got up and headed down to the centro storico in our search for the elusive column.  The problem was, I didn't really know where it was.  I had some directions, but they read something like "look at the church on your right, then turn left and continue until you see the other church, across the piazza from that building with the edicole".  That describes every piazza in the entire city!  Well, I'm always up for an adventure and now was as good a time as any.


So what is the Column of Infamy?  Well first you have to understand the political dynamics of Medieval and Renaissance Genova.  The best description is that it was one big armed camp!  The powerful families, the Fieschi, the Spinola, the Doria and others, each had their own fortress including a church and a piazza all surrounded by tall walls.   These families were constantly plotting against each other,  and sometimes murdering each other, for power and control of the Republic.  But, in 1628, one noble family, the Vacchero's, did the unforgivable.  They plotted with an outsider.  The Duke of Savoy, who's dominion covered the area around Torino, had coveted Genova for decades.  Torino and the rest of the Dukedom was landlocked, but Genova was huge port, something any self-respecting Duke would kill to control.  Nor were the Vacchero  a family of upstarts.  They were a noble family who owned the entire area at the western end of the city.  In fact, the only other remaining city gate besides the Porta Soprana is named after them.

Porta dei Vacca  1155-1159

The Vacchero's seeing an opportunity to get a leg up on their enemies, plotted with the Duke to take control over the Republic of Genova.   When the plot was discovered, Guilio Cesare Vacchero was beheaded, his house was destroyed and his family exiled.  The city leaders, deciding this wasn't enough humiliation for the Vacchero family, erected a monument to their shame on the site of their former home, and that's what we're off to find.

Our first stop is one of my favorite places in the centro storico, the compound of the Doria family in Piazza Matteo.  This is so striking because it is no more than 150 feet from the contemporary center of the city.  The moment you enter upon the steep grade of Salita San Matteo, you leave the 21st century behind and enter Medieval Genova.

Chiesa San Matteo  1125-1278

This is the family church of the Doria family and it is here that their victories are celebrated and their dead are buried.  The black and white stripes, which once had much greater contrast, are typical of Romanesque architecture in Medieval Genova.  We're going to see a lot of it today.  What's interesting, is carved along the white stripes are the Doria military victories.

Lamba Doria house circa 1289

The Lamba Doria house is one of the rare medieval houses in Genova where the porticoes have not been walled up.  Lamba was a famous Admiral who defeated the Venetians and was given this house by the city to show their gratitude.

Note the detail

And my favorite, the house of Andrea Doria.  You can see the change from the medieval architecture on the bottom of the building to the Renaissance on the top.  Especially the exquisite loggia.

But enough of the Dorias.  We still have to find the Column, hopefully before it gets too humid and hot.  Anyway, we're going to see the Palace of Andrea Doria next week.

Our next stop in Piazza Campetto.  This piazza was actually open as a thoroughfare in Medieval times unlike most of the other piazzas which were enclosed compounds.

Ollie at the site of his humiliation

When we first moved to Genova, we lived in a hotel not far from here while we waited for our apartment to become available.  Left to his own devices for a few minutes,  someone asked Ollie a question in Italian, and he advised them that he didn't speak English...twice.  The fountain is 17th century, but it's only been in the Piazza since 1999.

So far, all of this is pretty familiar territory, but we still don't know where the column is so we're heading off to find our next landmark which is the Chiesa Nostra Signora delle Vigne or Church of Our Lady of the Vineyards.  In this incredibly compact and highly populated city, it's hard to believe that when this church was first built, it was in the middle of a vineyard.

The original church was raised by Oberto Spinola and Guido Carmandino in 980.

The newer part of the church was built in the 12th century and then renovated at the end of the 16th century.

The Campanile shows the original medieval structure of the church.

There is gorgeous Renaissance architecture in the Piazza delle Vigne, but we'll save that for another day, er...post.  Actually, at this point I need to give a Parental Guidance warning, because we're about to enter the area around Via Maddelena.  This neighborhood is appropriately...I guess, populated by prostitutes.  Maddelena=Magdalenes=prostitutes.  Not just prostitutes, I have good friends who live in this neighborhood in a fabulous medieval palazzo, but I just didn't want to get angry comments from people who follow my journey and discover the "ladies of the night" without a fair warning.  These are definitely not the "ladies of the night" they are the ladies of anytime you want as long as it's not lunchtime.  Ollie and I came upon a pair of young women calming eating their panini while their customers patiently waited for them to finish.  They're not aggressive or dangerous, although I wouldn't take this part of the trip at night, but they're there, and they're transacting their business...there...among the businessmen, the tourists and the wealthy women in designer clothes.

And then...there it is.  Just a few feet past Piazza del Campo stands a giant fountain, and behind it to the right is the column.

And there it is.

But there this is and it's a lot bigger.  The column is in back to the right.

In the most poetic of terms from an article by Robert Fletcher it says:

Curses upon the name bestow

of Julius Ceaser Vacchero;

Who 'gainst his country dared conspire,

And lost his head by righteous ire;

His wealth confiscate, sons expelled,

No stone remains of where he dwelled.

1628

100 years later, the Vacchero family erected the fountain to shield the column from view as best they could.  The tub at the base, by the way, is Roman.  But that's not the only reason it's unique.  If you wander around Genova, you will find very few fountains.  Unlike Rome, which is overrun with fountains, there's just not room for them here.

Although the Vacchero family didn't fare well from this venture, the descendants of the Duke of Savoy, went on to be the Kings of a Unified Italy.  Tomorrow we're going to see their palace on Via Balbi.