Moa Cashmere & Lobster was an unusual pairing — a cashmere shop and a seafood restaurant in the same rooms — on the ground floor of a sixteenth-century palace on Piazza Fontane Marose. It closed at this address in November 2022 and moved its whole business to the Arena di Albaro; another restaurant has occupied the rooms since. What remains to be seen here is the building itself: Palazzo Interiano Pallavicino, number 7 in the Rolli lists and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Genoa.
At a glance
- Status
- Closed at this address since November 2022; the business moved to the Arena di Albaro
- Was
- Restaurant and cashmere shop in one venue
- The building
- Palazzo di Paolo Battista e Niccolò Interiano, later Palazzo Interiano Pallavicino — Rollo no. 7
- Built
- from 1566, on a permission granted in 1565
- Architect
- Francesco Casella, from Canton Ticino
- Address
- Piazza Fontane Marose 2 — venue entrance at Salita Santa Caterina 2r, 16123 Genoa
- Coordinates
- 44.4103° N, 8.9356° E
- Heritage status
- Part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli”
Overview
Piazza Fontane Marose sits at the foot of via Garibaldi, the old Strada Nuova, and three of the palaces around it belong to the UNESCO list. One of them is Palazzo Interiano Pallavicino, whose ground-floor rooms — the fondi, in Genoese usage — have been let to shops and restaurants for generations while the floors above remained residential.
Moa Cashmere & Lobster occupied those rooms until 2022. It sold knitwear and served lobster in the same space, which is why it drew attention beyond its size: a concept venue, in a city whose dining is otherwise built on trattorie, focaccerie and the osterie of the caruggi.
History
The palace was commissioned by Ludovico Interiano and his sons Paolo Battista and Niccolò. Permission was granted in 1565, but building could not start until 1566, the site having first to be cleared of rubble; the design went to Francesco Casella, one of the architects from Canton Ticino who dominated building in Genoa for generations. Two noble floors open outwards through loggias, and a garden survives at the back. The facade was frescoed around 1585 by Pantaleo Calvi and his son Benedetto, with Aurelio and Felice Calvi — the painted front being one of the distinguishing marks of Genoese building between the fifteenth and the eighteenth century.
Moa Cashmere & Lobster came to national attention in January 2018, when it took part in the opening episode of the fourth season of Alessandro Borghese’s 4 Ristoranti, broadcast on Sky Uno on the evening of 16 January and dedicated to the best restaurant in the caruggi of Genoa. It finished second with 103 points, behind the trattoria C’era una volta in Vico Casana, which won with 105 points and a prize of 5,000 euros; 20 Tre in via David Chiossone scored 100 and Le Cantine Squarciafico 89. Moa served taglierini with sea urchins and trofie al pesto alongside a menu that leaned heavily on meat, from fassona tartare to burgers, with lobster at the top of it.
In November 2022 Moa left Piazza Fontane Marose and transferred the whole of its business to the Arena di Albaro. On 22 November 2022 a new bistrot, Rollipop, opened in the same rooms at Salita Santa Caterina 2r, taking its name and its menus from the Rolli palaces themselves.
What you see
From the square: a sixteenth-century front of two noble floors, with loggias opening on the outside and the remains of the Calvi frescoes, allegorical figures set between the windows. The palace is private and largely residential, so what a visitor sees from the street is the facade — and, through the doorway, the ground-floor rooms now given over to a restaurant.
Cultural significance
The Rolli were the lists on which the Republic of Genoa entered the private palaces obliged to lodge visiting dignitaries: a public duty discharged in private houses, which is why so many of them are still lived in today. Palazzo Interiano Pallavicino is number 7 on those lists, and its survival as an ordinary working address — flats above, a restaurant below — is a fair picture of how the UNESCO site actually lives.
Practical information
- Moa Cashmere & Lobster no longer trades at this address. Its successor business operates at the Arena di Albaro, on the other side of the city.
- The palace is private. The interiors can normally be seen only during the Rolli Days, the twice-yearly openings organised by the Comune di Genova; the facade is visible from the square at any time.
Getting there
Piazza Fontane Marose is in the heart of the old centre, at the foot of via Garibaldi, ten minutes on foot from Genova Brignole station and fifteen from Genova Piazza Principe. The nearest airport is Genova Cristoforo Colombo.
Sources
- Palazzi dei Rolli e Strade Nuove, official site of the UNESCO site management — Rollo 7, Palace of Paolo Battista and Niccolò Interiano: rolliestradenuove.it
- Comune di Genova — Palazzo Interiano Pallavicino: comune.genova.it
- Mentelocale, 16 January 2018 — “Miglior ristorante nei caruggi di Genova? Borghese incorona C’era una volta” (scores and competing restaurants).
- GenovaToday, 28 November 2022 — “Apre Rollipop, il nuovo bistrot contemporaneo nei Rolli a Fontane Marose” (closure of Moa at this address).
- Cultural Heritage Online historical archive — original Italian entry on beniculturalionline.it, verified and rewritten in August 2026.
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