A few steps from Principe Station, in Piazza della Commenda, stands one of Genoa’s most important medieval monuments: the Commenda di San Giovanni di Prè. Built at the end of the 12th century by the Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem (the Hospitallers, who would later become the Knights of Malta), it was for almost three centuries the main hospital-hostel for pilgrims, merchants, travellers and knights in transit to the Holy Land. Pilgrims coming from northern and eastern Europe, before boarding ship for Jerusalem from the port of Genoa, found here hospitality, food, medical care. The complex is characterised by two superimposed churches: the lower church with three naves (for pilgrims) and the upper church — the basilica of St John the Evangelist with the black stone of Promontorio and frescoes — reserved for the knights. In recent decades the Commenda has hosted part of the MEI National Museum of Italian Emigration (together with the Galata), because from the same docks millions of emigrants departed for the Americas in later centuries. Regular opening to the public, visitable for museum spaces and cultural events.
Where it is
The address is Piazza della Commenda 1, 16126 Genoa, in the Prè district, very close to Principe Station (Genoa’s main railway station). The square lies between the port (to the south, towards the Galata Maritime Museum) and the Via Balbi axis (to the east, with the great Rolli palaces).
On foot: three minutes from Principe station (perhaps the medieval monument most easily reachable by tourists arriving by train), five minutes from the Galata Maritime Museum, ten minutes from Palazzo Reale in Via Balbi, twelve from the Porto Antico. The Principe metro stop is 200 metres away.
Entrance to the complex is from Piazza della Commenda. Opening hours: variable depending on events and temporary exhibitions in progress.
The Knights Hospitaller of St John
The Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem — more simply the Hospitallers, and later the Knights of Malta — is one of the main military-religious orders of medieval Christianity. Founded in Jerusalem around 1099 by Blessed Gerard de Saxo following the First Crusade — recognised by the papal bull Pie Postulatio Voluntatis of 15 February 1113 — the order assisted Christian pilgrims reaching the Holy Land and progressively militarised, becoming one of the main Christian armies in the Middle East.
The order combined two functions: military (defence of pilgrims and holy places) and hospitaller (care of the sick, welcome for travellers). Throughout Europe it built a network of “commanderies” — local seats of the order — intended to welcome pilgrims in transit to the Holy Land.
Genoa, the main port of embarkation for the Holy Land in the western Mediterranean, was an obligatory stop for pilgrims coming from northern and eastern Europe. The order installed its own commandery there at the end of the 12th century — the Commenda di San Giovanni di Prè — destined to welcome pilgrims awaiting the ship to Jerusalem.
The complex layout
The Commenda is organised as a multifunctional complex, with different areas dedicated to different categories of guests:
- Hospital for the sick and injured, with reception and treatment rooms.
- Hostel for healthy pilgrims in transit.
- Guest house for knights and higher-rank merchants.
- Chapels and churches for daily religious services (pilgrims were obliged to pray before embarkation).
- Storerooms for the provisions destined for the ships setting off.
- Stables for the knights’ horses.
The most important building in the complex is the double superimposed church — a feature that makes the Commenda a unique example of European sacred architecture.
The two superimposed churches
The most interesting architectural piece is the double superimposed church:
Lower church (at street level): three naves separated by white marble columns, barrel vault, intimate Romanesque atmosphere. It was the church for pilgrims — the hostel guests, who gathered here for daily mass, departure services, confession before embarkation. It is directly accessible from the square, and was designed to welcome great crowds in transit.
Upper church (on the first floor): the basilica of St John the Evangelist, accessible only from inside the hospital (not from the square), reserved for the knights of the Order. It too has three naves but with a particularly wide central nave. Unique feature: the use of the black stone of Promontorio in the walls, giving the church an austere and gloomy atmosphere different from typical Genoese churches. It preserves medieval frescoes on the side walls — fragments of iconographic cycles dedicated to St John the Evangelist and to episodes of the Crusades.
The separation between the two churches reflected the social hierarchy within the order: the knights (military nobility) had their private sacred space, separated from that of common pilgrims. It is a rare example of sacred architecture differentiated by social status — more typical of Eastern monastic architectures (some Byzantine monasteries had similar organisations) than of Western ones.
The era of the Crusades
The Commenda functioned as a pilgrim hostel throughout the era of the Crusades (12th–13th centuries) and in the following decades. The pilgrimage flows to the Holy Land were constant: individual pilgrims, organised groups, knights setting off for subsequent crusades, merchants embarking for the Genoese colonies in the eastern Mediterranean.
Genoa was — together with Venice and Marseille — one of the main ports of departure for the Holy Land. The Genoese Republic had colonies at Acre, Antioch, Tripoli of Lebanon, Caffa in the Black Sea. Genoese ships regularly made the Genoa–Acre route (with stops in Marseille, Sicily, Cyprus), carrying pilgrims, goods, horses, weapons.
After the fall of Acre in 1291 — the last Crusader fortress in the Holy Land, conquered by the Egyptian Mamluks — the flow of pilgrims to the Holy Land was drastically interrupted. The Commenda lost much of its original function.
Subsequent eras
In the 14th–16th centuries the Commenda continued to function as residence of the Hospitallers in the city (the order had by then moved its main seat to Rhodes and then Malta), but the dimension of pilgrim hostel reduced. During the religious crises of the sixteenth century (Protestant Reformation, wars of religion) pilgrimage to the Holy Land became rare.
In the 17th–19th centuries the Commenda was partly transformed: some parts of the complex were adapted to other uses (warehouses, depots, dwellings), others were restored for religious uses. In the Napoleonic period (1797–1814) the order was suppressed and the assets passed to the State.
From the late 19th century the Prè district around the Commenda became the departure point for the flows of Italian emigrants to the Americas. Thousands of departers — mainly southern Italian peasants, but also Piedmontese, Lombards, Venetians — arrived at Principe Station by train, crossed the Prè district to reach the port, and embarked for Buenos Aires, New York, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro. For some decades of the early twentieth century, the arcades of the Commenda and surrounding buildings served as temporary shelter for migrants awaiting embarkation.
The MEI Museum of Italian Emigration
In recognition of this migratory history, on 12 May 2022 the Commenda became the seat of the MEI National Museum of Italian Emigration — the first national museum dedicated to the phenomenon of Italian emigration between 1861 and 1985 (over 27 million people left, mainly for the Americas).
The MEI is permanently housed at the Commenda, with three floors of installations dedicated to medieval pilgrimage, the Crusades, and contemporary migratory flows. The Galata Maritime Museum hosts the related exhibition Memoria e migrazioni; both belong to the MuMa museum system.
The integration between the story of medieval pilgrims to the Holy Land and the story of modern migrants to the Americas is the narrative thread of the MEI at the Commenda: “A place of departure that has crossed the centuries”, as the museum’s introductory panel reads.
Exhibition and theatre space
In addition to the museum, the Commenda hosts an exhibition space for temporary shows (contemporary art, photography, graphics) and a small theatre for shows, book launches, cultural events. Management is by MuMa — Mu.MA Institution of Museums of the Sea and Migrations (together with the Galata and the Pegli Naval Museum), supported by city cultural associations.
Practical information
Hours: variable depending on exhibitions and events in progress. Generally open Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–18:00, with seasonal variants. Check before visiting at museidigenova.it.
Tickets: €5–8 full adult, €3–5 reduced, free under 18. Often included in cumulative tickets with the Galata Maritime Museum and other MuMa museums.
Contacts: phone +39 010 5572218, official site museidigenova.it. Guided visits bookable.
Rules: sober behaviour. Photos allowed (no flash inside the upper church to avoid damaging the frescoes).
What’s around
The Commenda is in a very convenient position for tourists arriving at Principe Station — it is the first medieval monument one encounters leaving the station. A few minutes on foot: the Galata Maritime Museum (5 minutes) with the submarine Nazario Sauro and the main MEI, the SS Annunziata del Vastato (5 minutes), Palazzo Reale (10 minutes, on Via Balbi), the Porta dei Vacca (3 minutes).
Towards the historic centre in 12–15 minutes the Cathedral of San Lorenzo, the Palazzo Ducale. Towards the Porto Antico in 10–12 minutes the Aquarium.
For those wanting a Crusader Genoa itinerary: Commenda di Prè (pilgrims’ hostel) → Torre degli Embriaci (memory of the conquest of Jerusalem 1099) → Santa Maria di Castello (consecrated by a Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1237). Three stops in a morning, with five centuries of Mediterranean history.
For lunch or dinner: the Prè area traditionally has less gastronomic offer than the proper historic centre. Better to go down to the caruggi: Sa Pesta, Antica Friggitoria Carega in Sottoripa.
