Even if you're not in the market for designer homewares, it's worth trotting up the noble stairs just to be reminded how splendid a city Genoa can be. There's an incredibly canny collection of contemporary furniture and objects, as well as 'interventions' by contemporary artists such as Damian Hirst and Sterling Ruby, with works occasionally loaned from New York's Gagosian gallery.
But it's the shop's sensitively restored original architecture – an aesthetic onslaught of columns, arched windows and baroque painted ceilings – that will really make your jaw drop. And Lorenzo Bagnara and his family are both erudite about their wares and incredibly welcoming.