The famous image of Andrea Doria in the guise of Neptune was painted by Bronzino for the collection of effigies of illustrious men by Paolo Giovio, a prominent figure in the culture of the sixteenth century. There is a second version of the painting made for Giovio, now kept in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, which is now visible in the Perseus room of Villa del Principe. The painting from the Doria collection was probably made by Bronzino between 1545 and 1546. In the canvas, the Doria, depicted in heroic nudity, partly inspired by Michelangelo's David, is leaning against the mast of a ship and holding an oar in his right hand. The face appears idealized with respect to the real features of Andrea Doria and is characterized by a long wavy beard, traditionally attributed to Neptune.

The painting immortalizes Anna Pamphilj, daughter of Camillo prince of Valmontone and Olimpia Aldobrandini Borghese, betrothed to Giovanni Andrea III Doria. As was the custom of the time, the couple did not know each other personally and for this reason, before the wedding, celebrated by proxy in Rome on 25 October 1671 and celebrated in Genoa upon the arrival of the bride, the Pamphilj family sent their fiancé a portrait of Anna . The painting depicts the young woman in an elegant French fashion dress holding a lily in her hand, a symbol of purity. The painting is attributed to Jacob Ferdinand Voet, a portrait painter of late Baroque Rome.

The famous portrait of Andrea Doria was painted on a panel by Sebastiano del Piombo by order of Pope Clement VII in 1526, when Doria became supreme commander of the papal fleet. Andrea is depicted at the age of sixty in an austere black dress, with an admiral's hat on his head. Below the figure there is an ancient frieze depicting six naval trophies, taken from a marble decoration of the 1st century BC. currently preserved in the Capitoline Museums in Rome. These emblems probably allude to the six galleys made available to him by the Pope. Stylistically, the work is of great value. The very fine modulation of grays and blacks gives, by contrast, the maximum emphasis to the only pictorial elements of bright color: the face of Andrea and the hand that indicates the emblems of the frieze below.

The series of tapestries dedicated to the Battle of Lepanto consists of six large cloths. In May 1571 Pope Pius V formed the Sacra Lega, bringing together the rival powers of Genoa and Venice, the Spain of Philip II and numerous minor powers. The Holy League declared war on the Turks and on 7 October 1571 they faced them in the epic battle of Lepanto which saw the Christian fleet triumph over the Turkish one. The cycle of tapestries was commissioned by Giovanni Andrea I, Andrea's nephew and successor and destined like him to become General of the galleys of the Spanish fleet. The battle scenes are enclosed within fake architectural frames, consisting of a base with an inscription flanked by allegories and columns on which rest female figures that symbolize the essential virtues to achieve victory and fame. All the tapestries are dominated in the center of the upper portion by the heraldic eagle of the Dorias.

The theme chosen for the decoration of the Hall of the Giants of Villa del Principe, frescoed by Perin del Vaga, a pupil of Raphael, is that of the Greek myth of Hesiod and Apollodorus, according to which the Giants, born from the drops of blood of Uranus fallen on earth, they attacked Olympus with the intent of ousting the gods. The fierce fight that followed, called "Gigantomachy", was won by the gods, led by Jupiter. In the fresco, Jupiter is depicted in the center of the ranks of the Olympian gods in the act of hurling lightnings on the Giants. The triumph of Jupiter over the Giants is to be interpreted, according to what the sources of the time suggest, as an allegory of the triumph of Emperor Charles V over his enemies, in particular the Turks and Protestants.

The two large cloths preserved in the Hall of the Giants, depicting the Stories of Alexander the Great, are considered by experts to be among the most important tapestries of the fifteenth century. Woven with gold, silver, silk and wool yarns, they were made around 1460 in Tournai, in the Duchy of Burgundy. This tapestry shows an intertwining of historical and fairytale elements and reflects the Burgundy of the fifteenth century in the shape of the costumes, in the typology of the weapons, in the style of the buildings. In the center is depicted a legendary episode according to which the Macedonian ruler reached Heaven sitting inside a cage adorned with precious stones.

This tapestry, just under forty square meters large, describes some scenes from Alexander the Great's youth, starting with the arrival of the cruel horse Bucephalus - who, before being tamed by Alexander, ate human flesh - the clash with the enemy Pausanias, the death of Philip of Macedon and the passing of the crown to his young son Alexander.