The edifice was constructed in 1593 as per the will of Francesco Grimaldi on the pre-existent Medieval foundations. Pier Paolo Rubens left us precious documentation of the first version of the mansion when he included an etching of the façade in the volume ‘The Mansions of Genoa’ which he published in Antwerp in 1622. Thanks to this the original connection between the two wings of the mansion with an open loggia is documented, closed in the mid seventeenth century, in correspondence with the third storey, with a terrace whereupon the gallery of mirrors was constructed in 1734. The original frescoed décor can with the blind architectural details may also be seen; several sections of which have been recovered recently and from which the continuity of the elaboration between the external facades and the frescoed décor is visible in the halls of the second storey.