The palace was built around 1560 for Gio Vincenzo Imperiale, based on a design by Gio Batta Castello known as "il Bergamasco", and later expanded by Andrea Ansaldo. In 1576, the palace was included in the first list of the Palazzi dei Rolli, and was listed there until 1664.

The building was damaged by the naval bombing of 1684 and, perhaps later, it was elevated by one floor. It is structured around a square courtyard, with a wide staircase overlooking loggias that open onto the interior spaces. The atrium on the ground floor and the rooms on the second floor are decorated with frescoes by Bernardo Castello, Luca Cambiaso and Domenico Piola. The original staircase is also adorned with fine frescoes with grotesques and portals with marble busts.

The unusually asymmetrical façade reveals a decorative apparatus originally intended to be observed from a foreshortened angle and from bottom to top. This perspective was partially altered in 1584 with the opening of today's Via di Scurreria, which gave direct and linear access to the building from Piazza San Lorenzo, opening up a new perspective of the façade and the monumental portal.

The atrium of the palace currently houses an antiques dealer, while the upper floors are home to restaurants and rooms for private events.