The Genoese fortress by the sea
On the Riviera di Ponente, Savona is a busy port city with a long history, which for centuries was the great rival of Genoa. It was the home town of two popes of the della Rovere family: Sixtus IV, who built the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, and his nephew Julius II, the patron of Michelangelo and Raphael; next to the cathedral, Sixtus IV also had built the "Sistine Chapel of Savona", a baroque funerary chapel for his parents. In 1528 the city was definitively conquered by Genoa, which, to subjugate it, filled in part of its port and demolished an entire district on the hill overlooking the sea, including the old cathedral, to build a huge fortress: the Priamar.
Built from 1542, the fortress stands on a promontory facing the sea, with massive bastions and walls, and for centuries it dominated the city as a symbol of Genoese power. In the nineteenth century it became a prison, and its most famous prisoner was Giuseppe Mazzini, the father of the Risorgimento, locked up here in 1830-1831, who in his cell conceived the idea of founding "Giovine Italia". Today the Priamar is a cultural centre that hosts the Archaeological Museum, with finds from the ancient city, the Sandro Pertini Museum, with works of art donated by the former President of the Republic, born nearby, and the sculptures of Renata Cuneo, as well as concerts and events in summer. Near the port stands the Torre Leon Pancaldo, a medieval tower named after a Savonese sailor of Magellan's expedition.
Tip: from the bastions of the Priamar there is a beautiful view of the sea and the port; taste the farinata, here also made with white flour.
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