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> ...In the southern Swiss canton of [Ticino](#ticino), a region that shares much of its border and culture with northern Italy, there is a strong peasant tradition of striped houses. Painted in bold bands of colour, these houses are decorated not out of spite, but to put on a public display of care and richness on otherwise simple domestic structures – a poor kind of rustication. By contrast, in [Genoa](#genoa), where stripes cover many of the city’s medieval churches, including the cathedral of [San Lorenzo](#cattedrale di san lorenzo), stripes can also be found on the private homes of the city’s most preeminent families, the Doria being foremost among them. Here, the use of stripes as early as the 13th century for domestic purposes was sanctioned by the city, and it is sometimes said to have marked out these families for their honourable civic deeds. |