Palazzo Borea d’Olmo

Five centuries of history

Local history sources trace the first building to 1430, when Antonio Borea, podestà of Sanremo, had a modest house built. The front of today’s palace is attributed to Gio Batta Borea, a merchant from Romagna, around 1498. It was extended several times until it reached the Baroque look you see now. The name comes from the Borea d’Olmo family, who lived here for centuries.

On 23 February 1887 an earthquake badly damaged it: a central upper storey and two side turrets were taken down. The Renaissance-style cornice runs for about 185 metres, roughly 25 metres above the ground.

What to look at from outside

There are two 16th-century marble portals, one on Via Matteotti and one on Via Cavour. Above them stand the Virgin and Child and Saint John the Baptist, statues attributed to Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli, a Florentine sculptor of Michelangelo’s school; it is an attribution, not a certainty. The doors are still the original wood reinforced with studded iron plates.

Inside, according to the sources, there is an atrium with a Genoese-style staircase, marble columns and vaults. The noble floors have frescoes by Giovanni Battista Merano (late 17th century) and 18th-century decoration linked to Maurizio Carrega’s circle. They help you picture what is behind the facade; they are not something to chase.

The pope who slept here

Among the palace’s many guests, the best known is Pope Pius VII, who spent the night of 11-12 February 1814 here on his way back to Rome after his captivity in France. Other names recorded are Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy, the painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1773) and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1948).

Getting there and what to combine

The palace is right in the centre and a few minutes’ walk from the station. It stands along Via Matteotti, the main shopping street, close to the Ariston theatre. For a short walk through the old town, continue to the Civic Museum of Sanremo in Palazzo Nota, then the co-cathedral of San Siro or La Pigna. For the rest of the city, see our guide to Sanremo.

Practical tips

• Don’t look for the museum here: for the civic collections, go to Palazzo Nota. Some online listings are outdated and still place the museum in this palace.
• For interior visits, ask the municipality of Sanremo: the noble floor is privately owned and we found no regular openings.
• The song museum planned for the palace does not appear to have been built; in 2024 another site was being discussed.