If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR310.91), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
As a former doge’s residence, Palazzo Durazzo has been a grand affair since the 17th century – but recent restoration works by the Durazzo family’s descendants reveal yet more architectural pizzazz. Hand-picked antiques sit prettily beneath shell-encrusted ceilings, collections of rare Italian corals are artfully displayed in the palatial bedrooms – and oh, the frescoes. Original oceanscape murals and gilded tritons by Genoese painter Domenico Parodi are just some of the many treasures you’ll wake up to, ever reminding you that the Ligurian Sea is just a few steps away.
11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
Prices
Double rooms from £292.94 (€342), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €4.50 per person per night on check-out.
More details
Rates include a buffet breakfast of homemade pastries, fresh fruit, local cheeses, and cured meats.
Also
The hotel is unfortunately unsuitable for guests with reduced mobility.
At the hotel
Lounge, charged laundry service, and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: smart TV, air-conditioning, minibar, Nespresso coffee machine, tea-making kit, and Diptyque bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Every individually designed bedroom feels like a work of art in its own right, with plenty of period features to please the eye. Centuries-old frescoes, seashell mosaics, terrazzo floors, gilded double-height ceilings, and grand four-poster beds set a stately scene, befitting Palazzo Durazzo’s Renaissance origins. Book Il Doge suite for the sweeping sea views (mirrored in the hand painted Neptune murals) and mezzanine-level hot tub, or Le Quattro Stagione suite for its private chapel. Little ones will enjoy the adjoining room off Le Conchiglie suite, with its shell-covered ceiling inspired by Liguria’s sea grottos.
Spa
There’s no spa at Palazzo Durazzo, but a bijou wellness area can be booked for an hour’s private use, featuring a sauna and steam room.
Packing tips
Read up on your Roman myths: you’ll encounter Ovidian figures at breakfast and sleep beside sea nymphs (so it only seems polite to learn their names).
Also
The hotel’s co-owner, Emanuela Brignone Cattaneo, also helped to restore nearby Palazzi dei Rolli to their former glory.
Pet‐friendly
Well behaved dogs are welcome to stay in certain rooms (La Cupola, Via del Campo, De André, and Le Conchiglie) for an extra charge of €40 a night for each pet. See more pet-friendly hotels in Genoa.
Children
Welcome, but not especially catered for. Most rooms can be made up as twins, and there are two single sofa-beds in Il Doge suite for bambini.
One of the two tables by the ceiling-height windows to soak up those sea views.
Dress Code
Strive to look as though you’ve just stepped off a yacht, favouring Italian labels – naturally.
Hotel restaurant
None, but guests can take breakfast in the Ovid-themed Metamorphoses Room surrounded by myth-depicting frescoes, with wonderful views across the harbour. Dainty cakes and delicate pastries are beautifully presented buffet-style, and the service is relaxed (between helping yourself to more pandolce).
Hotel bar
Head up to the third floor at aperitivo hour and settle into the red velvet seating area as the sun sets, and keep those Negronis flowing.
Last orders
Breakfast is from 7.30am to 11am.
Room service
Light bites can be delivered to your room around the clock, with a surcharge of €10 (each guest).
Palazzo Durazzo resides on the glitzy Via del Campo in the heart of the old town, overlooking Genoa’s yacht-filled port.
Planes
Genoa Cristoforo Colombo International is the closest airport, just a 15-minute drive from the hotel, which can arrange private transfers (price on request).
Trains
The city’s main station is Piazza Principe, a 10-minute walk from the hotel. High-speed trains connect Genoa to Milan, Rome, and other Italian cities, and EuroCity trains can take you as far as the French Riviera by rail.
Automobiles
There are several car rental options at Genoa airport, with valet parking at the hotel for €40 a day.
Other
The Liguarian coast is best seen by boat, so take advantage of the regularly-departing cruises to Camogli, Cinque Terre, and Portofino. There are also ferries between Genoa and Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, and Tunisia for longer itineraries.
Worth getting out of bed for
Genoa’s Renaissance, Baroque, and mediaeval architecture can be admired at every turn from Palazzo Durazzo’s portside position – you need only take a short passeggiata to find yourself at the Porto Antico, Doge’s Palace, Teatro Carlo Felice, and Unesco-listed Palazzi dei Rolli, where you could happily spend several days discovering the impressive art collections, terraced gardens, and sculpture galleries. If you’re short on time, prioritise Palazzo Reale – its Hall of Mirrors rivals Versailles, and was commissioned to celebrate the hotel’s founding Durazzo family. Also worth visiting are the colossal Musei di Strada Nuova, an elegant trio of interconnecting palazzi that house old masters works from Caravaggio to Rubens. Aside from the abounding art, wander along the waterfront Corso Italia to the pebble beach at Boccadasse, a half-asleep fishing village that’s quieter than Cinque Terre – though this iconic stretch of the Italian Riviera can be reached by the hotel’s boat that’s available for private charter, including sailing trips to Portofino. Drop anchor at Bagni Sillo on your way back to the city, a cliffside beach club serving fresh seafood and spritzes to a stylish, sun-kissed crowd.
Local restaurants
Seafood is the star of Genoa’s restaurant scene, and you’ll only need to venture down the street to Ristorante Soho to sample elevated fish dishes – including calamaretti tossed in Genoese pesto. Try Liguria’s traditional stockfish at Antica Osteria di Vico Palla, a rustic tavern that’s been feeding hungry sailors since the 1600s. Overlooking the harbour, Il Marin takes a zero-waste approach to its fish-centric menu, offering five- and eight-course tastings (the seaweed tagliolini is a highlight, served in a delicious monkfish and shell soup).
Local cafés
Make like the Genoese and sip caffè con panera near the cathedral at Caffè degli Specchi, a popular haunt for artists and poets to gather under its tiled vaulted ceiling since the 1920s.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this painstakingly-restored palace on the Italian Riviera and unpacked their Ligurian ceramics and handmade lace, a full account of their history-steeped break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Palazzo Durazzo in Genoa…
Palazzo Durazzo is a boutique retreat with serious heritage – four centuries of it, in fact – today presided over by the same Genoese family whose aristocratic seat was founded so long ago on the illustrious Via del Campo. The outlook across the Porto Antico has changed little (perhaps the sailing boats have got a tad sleeker) but the interiors have been meticulously madeover. The Marquis of Gabiano (a descendant of Doge Stefano Durazzo, the palazzo’s original owner) entrusted the (seven-year) works to his wife, Emanuela Brignone Cattaneo – an architect and archaeologist of Paris’ Musée d’Orsay – and Venetian designer, jeweller, and sculptor Cesare Barro.
Coastal chic doesn’t even begin to do justice to the grand suites and elegant lounges, dressed with carefully curated art, antiques, and murals that allude to the hotel’s waterfront setting – and mostly draw the eye upwards, ideally admired from the comfort of your four-poster bed. Gazing outwards also guarantees sea views from several harbour-facing rooms, with plenty to explore along the Riviera by land or by sea.
