The Franzoni ETS Foundation has its headquarters in the sixteenth-century building located in Via dei Giustiniani - an ancient road axis parallel to the current Via S. Lorenzo - built in the years 1550-1582 by Cardinal Vincenzo Giustiniani Banca (1519-1582), an illustrious member of the famous Genoese family. A distinguished patron of the arts, especially in Rome, and a refined scholar, he was - among other things - the promoter of the critical editio of the complete work of St. Thomas Aquinas. He too belonged to the Dominican Order, of which, in 1558, he was elected Minister General. He participated in the Council of Trent and Pope Pius V appointed him Apostolic Nuncio in Spain at the court of Philip II. In the consistory of 1570 he was created a cardinal. The palace, left by the cardinal to the Pious Legacy Giustiniani, was owned by the same family for over three centuries and was repeatedly part of the Rolli of the Republic of Genoa, as shown in the census carried out by E. Poleggi (A republican palace, Atlas of the palaces of Genoa 1576-1664, entry n.70).
It still retains a legible unitary architectural organism, characterized by a traditional symmetrical façade, which has come down to us practically unchanged except for the eighteenth-century plugging of the imposing loggia staircase on the courtyard.
Purchased in 1821 by the Congregation of the Franzonian Evangelical Workers, it became the seat - on the second noble floor - of the personal "bookshop" of Abbot Paolo Gerolamo Franzoni (1708-1778) who, in 1749, had opened it free to the public. And the Franzoniana library carried out its cultural service in this sixteenth-century building until 1965.
Starting from 2001 the property had provided for the conservative restoration of the monumental atrium and stairwell loggia of the building, which was followed by the restoration of the ancient manual freight elevator, used in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for loading and unloading the "bales" of cotton, and recognized by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage as a national monument. In 2003, thanks to the opportunities offered by the Municipality of Genoa and the Superintendence for Architectural and Environmental Heritage of Liguria in the context of the enhancement and recovery of the buildings belonging to the Rolli list, Palazzo Giustiniani Franzoni was the subject of an accurate conservative restoration. which concerned the elevations of the facades. The intervention has, among other things, brought to light part of the fresco decoration that once existed on the façade overlooking Via Chiabrera and a medieval column on the opposite façade (vico Stoppieri) which testifies how the entire building was built. on the pre-existence of more ancient buildings perhaps belonging to the same family.
Unesco has recognized the system of the Rolli palaces as a World Heritage Site.