The Torre Embriaci, also called Torre degli Embriaci, located in the oldest area of

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 ...

, where the Castello o Castrum stood.
It is the only one of the numerous towers that were located in the current

historic center of Genoa The historic center of Genoa is the core of the old town organized in the maze of alleys (''caruggi'') of medieval origin that runs - from east to west - from the hill of Carignano (Genoa) to the Genova Piazza Principe railway station, close to w ...

to have been spared by the edict of

1196 Year 1196 ( MCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * December – Emperor Alexios III (Angelos) is threatened by Emperor Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who demands 5,000 ...

which wanted to cut all the city towers to 80 palms.

History

The construction of the tower is linked to the name of the famous

Guglielmo Embriaco Guglielmo Embriaco (Latin ''Guillermus Embriacus'', Genoese ''Ghigærmo de ri Embrieghi'', English ''William the Drunkard''; born c. 1040), was a Genoese merchant and military leader who came to the assistance of the Crusader States during the F ...

who, together with his brother Primo di Castello's fleet, distinguished himself in the Christian conquest of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

1099 Year 1099 ( MXCIX) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place First Crusade * January 16 – The Crusaders, under Raymond IV, count of Toulouse (Raymond of Saint-Gilles), leave Antioch, and he ...

, during

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Muslim conquest ...

. The construction of the tower dates back to the early

12th century The 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and overlaps with what is often called the Golden Age' of the ...

. The massive structure in large blocks of rusticated stone, 41 meters high, has slits in the curtain walls for lighting and at the top is crowned by a triple frame of increasingly projecting hanging arches. The motif of the hanging arches on stone shelves, surmounted by the sawtooth frame, is found in almost all the churches of the time, but its repetition in overlapping orders is undoubtedly original.
It is assumed that the material used comes from the remains of the first

walls of Genoa The walls of Genoa (''mura di Genova'' in Italian, ''miage de Zena'' in Ligurian) constitute in their whole the several circles of walls that protected and defended the city of Genoa, former capital of the homonymous republic. To this day, large ...

(864), now abandoned, which ran not far away, while the technique was always the normal one used in the

early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

on the model of the late Roman period.
In the following centuries the ownership of the tower passed from the

Embriaco family The Embriaco family were a prominent Genoese family, who played an important role in the history of the Crusader states. It also gave consuls, admirals and ambassadors to the Republic of Genoa. The family ruled the city of Byblos (in present-d ...

to the

Cattaneo family The House of Cattaneo (; ) is a Genoa, Genoese noble family, that had an important role in the history of the Republic of Genoa, giving five Doge of Genoa, Doges to the Republic. Origins In 1309 the Della Volta family, with the families Mall ...

and then to the Brignole Sale family. Image:Torre Embriaci 1.JPG, Image:Torre Embriaci 2.JPG, Image:Torre Embriaci 3.JPG,

Palazzo Giulio Sale

Palazzo Giulio Sale, also known as Palazzo Brignole Sale, is today divided into a housing units in Piazza Embriaci n.5, was originally identified as a domus with a tower of the

, the palace was ceded to the Cattaneo family in

1514 Year 1514 ( MDXIV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 10 – A great fire breaks out, in the Rialto of Venice. * February 12 – War of the League of Cambrai: In ...

. In

1583 Events January–March * January 1 – The Duchy of Savoy adopts the Gregorian Calendar, replacing the Julian Calendar. * January 18 – François, Duke of Anjou, attacks Antwerp. * February 4 – Gebhard Truchsess von ...

it was bought by Giulio Sale who restructured it two years later. In

1607 Events January–March * January 13 – The Bank of Genoa fails. * January 19 – San Agustin Church, Manila, is officially completed; by the 21st century it will be the oldest church in the Philippines. * January 30 – ...

the ownership of the palace passed to

Giovanni Francesco I Brignole Sale Giovanni Francesco Brignole (Genoa, 1582 - Genoa, 1637) was the 102nd Doge of the Republic of Genoa and the first king of Corsica. Biography During his dogal two-year period he preferred to start a situation of impartiality and economic neutra ...

(

Doge of Genoa The Doge of Genoa ( ) was the head of state of the Republic of Genoa, a city-state and soon afterwards a Maritime republics, maritime republic, from 1339 until the state's extinction in 1797. Originally elected for life, after 1528 the Doge (ti ...

in 1635 - 1637). He had some architectural modifications to the palace made which are currently not very visible and some frescoes attributed to

Giovanni Andrea Ansaldo Giovanni Andrea Ansaldo (1584 – August 18, 1638) was an Italian painter active mainly in Genoa. Life Ansaldo was born in Voltri, now part of the ''comune'' of Genoa, the son of a merchant. He trained under Orazio Cambiasi and possibly collabor ...

, still present today. The palace remains of the Brignole Sale family until

1869 Events January * January 3 – Abdur Rahman Khan is defeated at Tinah Khan, and exiled from Afghanistan. * January 5 – Scotland's second oldest professional football team, Kilmarnock F.C., is founded. * January 20 – Elizabe ...

References

{{Authority control Genoa Buildings and structures in Genoa 12th-century establishments in Italy 12th-century establishments in the Republic of Genoa

History

Palazzo Giulio Sale

See also

References