The Visit Route

Entering from the sea side, the monumental atrium opens like a theatrical stage, paved with Genoese “bullettonato,” slate, and white marble. It is articulated on two levels separated by five steps, a configuration that makes it particularly suitable for concerts and theatrical performances. On the ground floor is the Salotto Vietri (Vietri Living Room), an ancient dining room decorated with Romantic-style frescoes and enriched by a majolica floor dating back to the late 17th century.

A little further on, the splendid Sala Vaymer, furnished in Louis XVI style, houses precious paintings by the artist Gio Enrico Vaymer, depicting members of the Centurione family. Ascending the slate staircase, adorned with 17th-century paintings depicting gentlemen and noblewomen, you reach the noble floor, where the Camera Veneziana (Venetian Room) is located. This room is furnished with oriental-style furniture and houses valuable paintings from the Genoese school of the 17th century, notably one of five fragments of a frieze depicting Putti holding garlands, a work by Domenico Piola (second half of the 17th century).

Continuing, you arrive at the Sala della Musica (Music Room), embellished by an Erard piano from 1871, of Parisian manufacture, and a magnificent turquoise Murano glass chandelier. In this room, you can admire a work by Giovanni Battista Paggi: “Ecce Homo.”The next room, the Salotto delle Grottesche (Grotesque Living Room), takes its name from the frescoed ceiling with grotesque motifs that define its character.

The room is dominated by a polychrome Murano glass chandelier and hosts a precious 18th-century console, decorated with lapis lazuli and egg white, as well as several 17th-century Genoese paintings, including four Putti holding garlands by Domenico Piola and “Joseph Refuses the Gifts of His Brothers” (first half of the 17th century) by Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari.

The tour then proceeds to the Loggiato mare (Sea Loggia), from which you can enjoy a breathtaking view of the coast and the Port of Santa Margherita. The room, frescoed with a spectacular allegory of the four seasons using the “trompe l’oeil” technique, also houses a small noble chapel. On the wall next to the chapel hangs a mirror with a wooden frame painted with floral motifs, in the taste of painted furnishings typical of 18th-century villas.

The tour continues with the Salotto del Camino (Fireplace Living Room), furnished with gilded Napoleon I style furniture and characterized by a fireplace covered with majolica tiles. Above the fireplace stands an 18th-century Louis XVI style fireplace mantel, lacquered and gilded in pure gold.

From here, you access the room dedicated to Queen Margherita of Savoy, who stayed in this villa in 1904 when the residence was used as a Grand Hotel. The tour concludes with the grand Salone degli Stucchi (Stucco Hall), a vast room whose walls are adorned with an elaborate vaulted ceiling, nine meters high, decorated with finely crafted stuccoes. The highly valuable floor is made of a polychrome marble mosaic in Genoese grit.

The Vittorio G. Rossi Room

The villa also hosts the reconstruction of the study of Vittorio G. Rossi, a writer and journalist born in Santa Margherita in 1898 to a Lombard father and a Ligurian mother. Rossi trained at the Nautical Institute of Camogli and the Academy of Livorno, and his passion for the sea became a distinguishing feature of his life and works. His numerous sea voyages aboard merchant ships inspired his novels, which earned him numerous awards and recognitions.

In the room dedicated to him, you’ll find objects related to his writing career, some copies of his books, the literary awards he received, souvenirs collected during his travels, and photographs, many of which bear witness to his meetings with artists, writers, politicians, and heads of state.