Un enigma del primo Seicento genovese: la statua di Scipione in via del Campo

An ancient sculpture of Scipio Africanus adorns the courtyard of the noble palace in Genoa - via del Campo. Here on the terrace facing the sea, till 1998 we could see two ancient statues of women. An other statue from the same building is nowdays kept in the Archeological Museum of Liguria. These sculptures can be attributed to the collection of the Raggi family (XVIIIth century), the presence of Scipio on the other hand, can be traced back to an event in the history of the city (between XVth and XVIIth century), when the Cibo family were owner of the palace. According to the autor the presence in the courtyard of Scipio, named on the epigraph ‘Reipublicae Propugnator’, is due to Carlo I Malaspina who so expressed his own solidarity with the Republic of Genoa, afterwards the Vachero conspiracy (1628). The Carlo’s behavior can be understood as a consequence of the partecipation of Giulio Cibo – ancestor of him – in the Fieschi conspiracy (1547)