It is certainly not included in the classic itineraries proposed for a one-day visit to Genoa, but it undoubtedly represents a gem for those who want to discover something more about our city, as well as for those seeking something new and outside the most well-known tours. Reaching the Sant’Agostino Museum from the superyacht berths and boat moorings of our tourist marina in Genoa is easy: simply take a walk of just over a kilometer from Marina Porto Antico, or conveniently take the metro at the station located just outside our marina, namely the underground Darsena stop. In just a few minutes, you can therefore go from the deck of your boat safely moored in the heart of Genoa to the entrance of one of the city’s most unique museums: let’s explore the history and the works housed in the Sant’Agostino Museum!

The collection of the Museum of Sant’Agostino

There are many ways to define the Museum of Sant’Agostino. To boaters who moor in the marina of Genoa we summarize this attraction by explaining that it is the formidable monumental archive of our city, displaying to the public sculptures and frescoes recovered from historic buildings in Genoa, now no longer existing, and dating from late antiquity to the end of the eighteenth century. However, the museum route is not limited to this alone: the collection of the Museum of Sant’Agostino is also enriched with panel paintings and ivory works, for a total of over 4,000 catalogued works.

The history of the museum, in brief

The Museum of Sant’Agostino is located within the larger complex of the church and convent of Sant’Agostino. The church was built around 1260, then expanded over the centuries, adding chapels and especially the fascinating cloister, built in the seventeenth century. From 1798 the church was deconsecrated.

In this complex, the Museum of Ligurian Architecture and Sculpture was inaugurated in 1939, but shortly thereafter it suffered the bombings of World War II; the structure was reopened only in 1984, to become a reference point in Genoa’s museum network.

Currently, it should be noted, the Museum of Sant’Agostino is undergoing renovation work to enhance the city’s monumental archive; this does not prevent, however, seeing an important part of the collection, which is displayed in the areas of the triangular cloister and those of the church, giving space to the most important medieval works; to this route must be added the museum’s storage areas, open to the public through guided tours.

What to see at the Museum of Sant’Agostino

What is there to see concretely at the Museum of Sant’Agostino? This is the natural question asked by boaters who moor in our tourist marina in Genoa when we propose this attraction. Among the most important works preserved in storage are, for example, the Janus by Gian Giacomo and Guglielmo della Porta, recovered from the small temple in the nearby Piazza di Sarzano, as well as fragments from the Church of San Silvestro and those from the Church of Santa Maria in Passione. And also, the Little Madonna once displayed outside Paganini’s house, and even an unexploded bomb among the 16,000 that fell on the city of Genoa during the ordered attack by the Sun King in 1684. It is impossible not to mention also the fragments of the sepulchral monument that Emperor Henry VII chose for his young wife Margaret of Brabant, who died in our city: it was created by Giovanni Pisano, among the most influential artists of the fourteenth century.

Are you planning your next visit to Genoa? Book a berth for your boat in the city center!

(photo © F. Bussalino – courtesy of the Sant’Agostino Museum, Municipality of Genoa)