+GENOA.+ During the second half of the sixteenth century a remarkable series of palaces was erected in Genoa, especially notable for their great courts and imposing staircases. These last were given unusual prominence owing to differences of level in the courts, arising from the slope of their sites on the hillside. Many of these palaces were by Galeazzo Alessi (1502-72); others by architects of lesser note; but nearly all characterized by their effective planning, fine stairs and loggias, and strong and dignified, if sometimes uninteresting, detail (+P. Balbi+, +Brignole+, +Cambiasi+, +Doria-Tursi+ [or Municipio], +Durazzo+ [or Reale], +Pallavicini+, and +University+). [Illustration: FIG. 173.--INTERIOR OF SAN SEVERO, NAPLES.] +THE BAROQUE STYLE.+ A reaction from the cold _classicismo_ of the late sixteenth century showed itself in the following period, in the lawless and vulgar extravagances of the so-called _Baroque_ style. The wealthy Jesuit order was a notorious contributor to the debasement of architectural taste. Most of the Jesuit churches and many others not belonging to the order, but following its pernicious example, are monuments of bad taste and pretentious sham. Broken and contorted pediments, huge scrolls, heavy mouldings, ill-applied sculpture in exaggerated attitudes, and a general disregard for architectural propriety characterized this period, especially in its church architecture, to whose style the name _Jesuit_ is often applied. Sham marble and heavy and excessive gilding were universal (Fig. 173). _C. Maderna_ (1556-1629), _Lorenzo Bernini_ (1589-1680), and _F. Borromini_ (1599-1667) were the worst offenders of the period, though Bernini was an artist of undoubted ability, as proved by his colonnades or atrium in front of St. Peter’s. There were, however, architects of purer taste whose works even in that debased age were worthy of admiration. [Illustration: FIG. 174.--CHURCH OF S. M. DELLA SALUTE, VENICE.]