The museum was conceived with the artwork, furnishings, ceramics, silver, books and etchings which the marquis Paolo and Franco Spinola donated in 1958 to the Italian State together with the centuried family mansion of which the aforementioned constituted patrimony. Condition of the donation was the maintenance of the aspect of a residence which characterizes the mansion with exception of the last two stories. Here, aware that the damage of the war had cancelled the historical aspect and therefore that this condition did not have apply, they suggested the arrangement of a different museum, and therefore created the National Gallery of Liguria. As per their intentions, this part of the mansion was opened in 1993 to present to the public the nucleus of the works which today enrich the patrimony of the museum established by the acquisitions of the State turned at increasing, in a complementary manner, the donation of Spinola.