D'Albertis Castle () is a historic residence located in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, in the north-western region of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The castle was the former home of sea captain

Enrico Alberto d'Albertis Enrico Alberto d'Albertis (23 March 1846 – 3 March 1932) was an Italian navigator, writer, philologist, ethnologist and philanthropist. His cousin Luigi Maria d'Albertis was also an explorer and naturalist. Biography Born at Voltri, now part o ...

and was donated to the city of Genoa upon his death in 1932. Today, it houses the Museo delle Culture del Mondo (Museum of World Cultures), which was inaugurated in 2004.

Description

D'Albertis designed the castle in the style of an architectural collage with a

Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

appearance inspired by palaces in Florence and castles of

Aosta Valley The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...

. Erected between 1886 and 1892 under the supervision of

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

ist

Alfredo D'Andrade Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon name Alfred (name), Alfred and a common Italian language, Italian, Galician language, Galician, Portuguese language, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. Given name Artists a ...

, the castle is located on the site of a 13th-century fortified area, which had been reinforced in the 16th century. Alberto not only based his design on the city's foundation, he incorporated and preserved the foundations of the bastion and one of the turrets. Inaugurated for the celebrations of 400 years of Columbus' discover of America, it was the first villa-castle built in Genoa. From top of the hill of Monte Galletto (or Montegalletto), one of the hills in the district of Castelletto, the castle dominates Genoa with a view of the

Ligurian Sea The Ligurian Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea. It lies between the Italian Riviera ( Liguria) and the island of Corsica. The sea is thought to have been named after the ancient Ligures people. Geography The sea borders Italy as far as ...

Collections

The museum includes ethnographic and archaeological findings collected by both Enrico and Luigi Maria d'Albertis during their trips to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

and

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

. There is a large number of weapons from

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

and the

Zambesi The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...

area Chinese

spear A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with Fire hardening, fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable materia ...

s and European

halberd A halberd (also called halbard, halbert or Swiss voulge), is a two-handed polearm that was in prominent use from the 13th to 16th centuries. The halberd consists of an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft. It may have a hook or ...

s. There are several exemplars of Canadian and American plains

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

, made in buffalo and deer leather and covered by porcupine thorns; also findings belonging to the

Maya civilization The Maya civilization () was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writin ...

from Honduras are present. It also exhibits models of ships and yachts, nautical instruments, photographs and the volumes of d'Albertis personal library. A separate section dedicated to music (the ''Museo delle Musiche dei Popoli'', "Museum of Peoples' Music") exhibits musical instruments from the whole world.

Description

Collections

See also