Which world-famous explorer dictated his travel memoirs while held prisoner inside this palace?
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Landmarks
Genoa · Landmark
Palazzo San Giorgio
Look at this breathtaking, vividly painted palace right on the historic harbor front. Palazzo San Giorgio has lived many lives: it was built as the civic government hall, served as a grim state prison (where Marco Polo was famously jailed!), and later became the home of the Bank of Saint George—one of the world's very first chartered banks.
monumentFree entry
Piazza Caricamento 2 — Piazza Caricamento 2, 16124 Genoa Genoa, Italy
History
Commissioned in 1260 by Guglielmo Boccanegra, the first Captain of the People in Genoa, the palace was deliberately built using marble and masonry salvaged from the demolished Venetian embassy in Constantinople—a bold trophy of war following a Genoese naval victory. In 1298, following the naval Battle of Curzola, the Venetian traveler Marco Polo was imprisoned in one of its tower cells. It was during his months of confinement here that Marco Polo dictated his legendary travel accounts (The Travels of Marco Polo) to his cellmate, Rustichello da Pisa. In 1407, the building became the headquarters of the Banco di San Giorgio (Bank of Saint George), a powerful institution that managed Genoa's state debt, administered colonies like Corsica and Crimea, and granted loans to monarchs across Europe (including Christopher Columbus).
Quests
Answer to earn XP. One attempt per quest.
The building materials used to construct the palace in 1260 were seized from which rival city's embassy?
Trivia · +10 XP
In 1407, Palazzo San Giorgio became the headquarters for one of the world's earliest what?
Trivia · +10 XP