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| | Il sito ufficiale di Genova 2004 capitale europea della cultura |
 | | The Durazzo Collection was one of the last great examples of broad-scale collecting by Genoese aristocracy, a reflection of an important phase in the social, economic, political and artistic history in the city. |
 | | In fact, while it is true that for much of the local aristocracy, the 18th century was a period of decline, for the Durazzo family it was undoubtedly the century of their apogee, the period of maximum expansion of the finance business and, consequently, of their patronage. |
 | | The history of the dispersal of a major portion of the Durazzo Collection (the nucleus with most of the works is still kept at Palazzo Reale, owned by the Italian State) begins in the Napoleonic period and continues into the first half of the 19th century, when the palace was purchased by the Savoy. |
| www.genova-2004.it /default.asp?id=364&lingua=ENG (333 words) |
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