Oratory of San Giacomo della Marina

A processional chest by the Marseille artist H. Pellet of 1667, representing Christ appearing to St. James and St. Leonard, a processional crucifix (the white one) by the workshop of Maragliano, two crucifixes (one of which is black) both by Domenico Bissone, a magnificent picture gallery consisting of 11 canvases representing episodes from the life of St. James. James, commissioned by important painters of Genoa of the 17th century (Valerio Castello, D. Piola, G. Carlone, Grechetto …), eighteenth century stalls symbolic seat of some parishes, high altar decorated by Piola, Malatto and Baratta, walls covered with stuccoes and pilasters and much more is what can be admired by visiting the Oratory of the Marina located in Via Mura delle Grazie 14 – 15.

The Oratory, built a little more than a century ago on the walls of the city washed by the sea, was for a long time an important stop for pilgrims on their way to Campostela. There are no visible traces of the original Romanesque building, and the construction as it appears today is the result of works carried out in the 17th and 18th centuries, a period when the Confraternity of St. James of the Navy enjoyed great prestige and power.

It was not until the late 1700s that it took on its present appearance, with the completion of the decoration of the vault and walls. Damaged during the last conflict, it would have been on the verge of an inexorable decline if the Confraternity had not begun in 1987 a laborious restoration work that received an important and decisive impulse in the 1990s. In addition to the roof and the façade, the windows, the floor, the plaster, the fixtures and the furniture had to be restored.

For more in-depth information on the Oratory see the volume : San Giacomo della Marina , un oratorio di casaccia a Genova – Sagep, 1996

The Santa Maria di Castello Cultural Association guarantees opening to visitors every Friday with hours 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 3 p.m.-6 p.m. and the second Saturday of the month 3 p.m.-6 p.m.