# Genoa lodged its state guests by lottery > The rolli were public lists of private palaces obliged to host visiting dignitaries in turn. 42 of them carry Genoa's UNESCO listing, inscribed in 2006. URL: https://myitalia.it/stories/genoa-lodged-guests-by-lottery Last updated: 2026-09-02 The 42 Genoese palaces inscribed by UNESCO in 2006 were once a public hospitality system: lists of private houses obliged to lodge visiting heads of state in turn, with the house assigned by drawing on the register. ## The rolli were lists, and the lists were the law A rollo was a public register of noble residences required to take in state guests, and it is the system, not the individual buildings, that UNESCO inscribed in 2006. The Republic of Genoa had no royal palace to put an ambassador in, because it had no king. What it had instead was a bureaucratic solution: register the private houses, rank them, and assign a visiting dignitary to one of them when the occasion arose. The effect on the city is visible from the street. Private families built to a standard set by the possibility of a state visit, which is why an ordinary residential street here carries facades sized for a court. ## 42 palaces out of over 100 still standing The inscribed property holds 42 Renaissance and Baroque palaces, selected from the over 100 that survive in the historic center. They line 5 streets: via Garibaldi, via Balbi, via Cairoli, via Lomellini and via San Luca. Via Garibaldi, the old Strada Nuova, is the densest stretch and the one most visitors mean when they say they have seen the Rolli. The ones left off the list are not lesser buildings. They are houses, offices and apartment blocks on the same streets, and you will walk past most of them without knowing. ## 3 of them are 1 ticket, and over 75 rooms Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Bianco and Palazzo Doria-Tursi make up the Musei di Strada Nuova, over 75 rooms in total, on a combined ticket of 14 euro full and 9 euro reduced in 2026. That ticket also covers the Museo di Sant'Agostino, which is a separate building elsewhere in the center, so the 14 euro buys 4 sites rather than 3. Palazzo Doria-Tursi holds the historic violins of Paganini. That is not a footnote to the palace, it is the reason a share of visitors are there at all. ## Monday gets you 1 building out of 3 On Mondays only 1 of the 3 palaces opens: Palazzo Rosso. Palazzo Bianco and Palazzo Doria-Tursi stay closed. From April 20 to September 30, 2026 the hours are 10 am to 7 pm (10:00 to 19:00 on Italian signs), and the fixed annual closure is December 25. If your Genoa day is a Monday, that changes the arithmetic on the ticket, because you are paying 14 euro for one third of what it covers. Either move the museums to another day or plan on Palazzo Rosso alone and treat via Garibaldi itself as the visit. ## The lift at Palazzo Rosso was out of order The lift in Palazzo Rosso was out of service when we checked in 2026, which matters in a building where the collection is upstairs. Genoa's historic center is steep, and the palaces are built into a slope. Anyone weighing stairs against a schedule should ask at the ticket desk on the day, because a single out-of-service lift changes what over 75 rooms across 3 buildings actually means. ## What to look at, once you know what it was Each of the 42 was designed to be entered by someone important, so the sequence from door to courtyard to staircase does its work before any room is reached. Read them that way and the buildings stop being a list of facades and become a piece of foreign policy. Genoa was a republic of merchants without an army worth the name, and this is what it used instead. There is a second reading, and it is the one that makes the listing unusual. UNESCO did not inscribe 42 beautiful buildings: it inscribed an administrative practice that happens to have left 42 buildings behind. The register is the monument, and the palaces are the evidence. That also explains why the property runs along 5 streets rather than around a square. The Strade Nuove were laid out to hold the houses, so the street plan and the hospitality system were designed together, and the city block is part of what was listed in 2006. For the rest of the city, see [Genova](/towns/genova). ## FAQ ### What are the Rolli of Genoa? Public lists of private noble houses that were required to host visiting heads of state and ambassadors in turn. The Republic had no state palace for guests, so it drew on the lists. 42 of these palaces were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage in 2006. ### How many Rolli palaces are there? Over 100 still stand in the historic center of Genoa, and 42 of them make up the UNESCO listing of 2006, along the Strade Nuove. They line via Garibaldi, via Balbi, via Cairoli, via Lomellini and via San Luca. ### Which Rolli palaces can you visit? Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Bianco, Palazzo Doria-Tursi, Palazzo Spinola and Palazzo Reale open on a regular basis. The first 3 are the Musei di Strada Nuova, over 75 rooms on one combined ticket of 14 euro full and 9 euro reduced. ### How much do the Musei di Strada Nuova cost? 14 euro full and 9 euro reduced in 2026, a combined ticket for Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Bianco and Palazzo Doria-Tursi that also covers the Museo di Sant'Agostino. Prices on this page are in euros. ### Are the Musei di Strada Nuova open on Monday? Only Palazzo Rosso. On Mondays the other 2 palaces stay shut, so a Monday visit gets you 1 building out of 3 on the same 14 euro ticket. From April 20 to September 30, 2026 the hours are 10 am to 7 pm. ## Sources | Fact | Source | Confidence | Valid until | |---|---|---|---| | Il sito UNESCO 'Le Strade Nuove e il sistema dei Palazzi dei Rolli' di Genova, iscritto nel 2006, comprende 42 palazzi rinascimentali e barocchi selezionati fra gli oltre cento ancora esistenti nel centro storico, allineati lungo via Garibaldi, via Balbi, via Cairoli, via Lomellini e via San Luca. | [Rolli e Strade Nuove - Comune di Genova](https://www.rolliestradenuove.it/en/the-unesco-site/); [Visit Genoa - Comune di Genova](https://www.visitgenoa.it/it/palazzi-dei-rolli-patrimonio-unesco_) | high | 2099-12-31 | | I Musei di Strada Nuova di Genova (Palazzo Rosso, Palazzo Bianco e Palazzo Doria-Tursi, oltre settantacinque sale in tutto) si visitano con un biglietto cumulativo da 14 euro intero e 9 euro ridotto che include anche il Museo di Sant'Agostino; dal 20 aprile al 30 settembre 2026 l'orario e' 10.00-19.00 e il lunedi' e' aperto il solo Palazzo Rosso. | [Musei di Genova - Comune di Genova](https://www.museidigenova.it/it/musei-di-strada-nuova) | medium | 2027-06-30 | ## Image https://media.myitalia.it/media/city.genova.v2.1600.jpg Author: Giogio1988. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vista_Genova_Boccadasse.jpg ## Other languages - it: https://myitalia.it/it/storie/genoa-lodged-guests-by-lottery.md - es: https://myitalia.it/es/historias/genoa-lodged-guests-by-lottery.md - fr: https://myitalia.it/fr/recits/genoa-lodged-guests-by-lottery.md - de: https://myitalia.it/de/geschichten/genoa-lodged-guests-by-lottery.md