The Villa Faraggiana Museum in Albissola Marina
A Museum in the Setting of a Historic Villa
The Villa Faraggiana Museum was created inside a splendid eighteenth-century holiday home, built for the Genoese nobleman Gerolamo Durazzo.
Original spaces, period furnishings, and frescoed galleries preserve the memory of a great family and an entire region. Visiting the museum means entering a perfectly preserved noble home, where every room recounts the customs, traditions, and refined lifestyles of the 18th and early 20th centuries.
Explore the Museum: Itineraries, Experiences, and Guided Tours
Historical-artistic itinerary
A tour through galleries, state rooms, chapels, and private rooms allows you to discover the Villa’s artistic and decorative heritage: frescoes, original furnishings, polychrome stucco, and precious period objects.
Group visits by reservation
The museum is open to groups (minimum 20 people) year-round, by reservation. It’s an ideal solution for schools, associations, cultural groups, and art history enthusiasts seeking a guided, customized experience.
Immersive experience
Not just a museum, but a truly lived-in historic home, where every room retains its original function: from the music room to the bedrooms, to the private chapel, for a journey through the tastes and customs of an era.
The History of the Villa Faraggiana Museum
Built in the first half of the 18th century at the behest of the Genoese nobleman Gerolamo Durazzo, Villa Faraggiana is one of the most significant examples of a Ligurian aristocratic holiday residence. Remaining the property of the Durazzo family until 1821, it was later purchased by the Ligurian nobles Faraggiana, who subsequently moved to Novara.
The last descendant, Alessandro Faraggiana (1876–1961), chose to forever link the history of the Villa to the community: upon his death in Albissola Marina, he bequeathed the residence and a substantial estate to the Municipality of Novara. The Villa was later opened to the public as a museum, with the aim of offering a tangible testimony to the customs and lifestyle of a bygone era.
Museum Spaces, Collections and Visiting Information
Inside the Villa, each room has its own distinct historical and artistic identity. In the west wing lies the evocative Gallery of the Four Seasons; in the east wing stands the Chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy, decorated with a fresco by the Savona painter Gio Agostino Ratti (1736).
On the main floor, one finds the music room, the library, and the bedrooms, enriched with a prie-dieu, gilded furniture by the cabinetmaker E.T. Peters, and refined 18th-century polychrome stuccoes, as well as a precious canopied bed covered in embroidered silk.
Currently, visits to the Villa are suspended and will resume towards the end of March 2026. It is still possible to request special openings for groups (minimum 20 people) throughout the year, subject to prior booking by phone at 019 480622 or via email at villafaraggiana@albezzanosrl.191.it.
offers a privileged way to discover, at a relaxed pace and with guided support, a historical and artistic heritage of great value.
