Savona - Main Sights

Main Sights

• Near the Rocca di San Giorgio, on the "Promontorio del Priamar", stands the fortress named Priamar, built by the Genoese in 1542 after their conquest of Savona, on the area of the old cathedral and old city and later used as a prison and military priso. At Fort Priamar were relegated many soldiers of the defeated Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies who did not want to betray their country. Among them the adjutant Santomartino Joseph, who defended the fortress of Civitella del Tronto. In the fall of the stronghold of Abruzzo, Santomartino was tried by Piedmont and sentenced to death. Under pressure from the French the sentence was commuted to 24 years in prison to be served in the fortress of Savona. Shortly after his arrival, one night, was found dead, leaving his wife and five children. He said he had tried to escape. An example of a suspicious death on which it was never open an investigation to ascertain the real causes of death. Also a Republican patriot Giuseppe Mazzini was imprisoned here by the government of the Savoy monarchy.
• Adjacent to the Cathedral and built 1480-1483, is the Cappella Sistina (Sistine Chapel), containing the Mausoleum erected by the Della Rovere Pope Sixtus IV to honor his parents, Leonardo Della Rovere and Luchina Monleone. The construction was commissioned by Giovanni D'Aria and his brother Michele. The chapel is architecturally similar to the chapel dedicated to the Cardinal Pietro Riario in the Basilica of the Santi Apostoli, Rome. After years of deterioration, in 1765-1767 a reconstruction was ordered by the Genovese Doge Francesco Maria Della Rovere. This updated the chapel in a Rococo style, with ceiling painted by Paolo Gerolamo Brusco. The Cathedral has a noteworthy 16th century carved wooden choir seats.
• Facing the cathedral is the unfinished Palazzo Della Rovere (Della Rovere Palace), built by Cardinal Giulio della Rovere (future Pope Julius II) and designed by Giuliano da Sangallo as a university.
• Palazzo Delle Piane (Delle Piane Palace), also known as Palazzo Delle Palle.
• The old towers, survived after the 1528 war with Genoa: the Campanassa (Commune tower, where the freedom declaration of Savona was signed in 1191), towers Corsi and Riario, "Ghibelline Tower", and Torre della Quarda (also known as "a Torretta"), in the Leon Pancaldo square.
• The Sanctuary of Nostra Signora della Misericordia (Our Lady of Mercy).
• In neighbourhood of Savona remains a house documented as property of Domenico Colombo, father of Christopher Columbus, where they lived for many years (Christopher Columbus lived in Savona for much of his youth).
• The church of Nostra Signora di Castello (Our Lady of the Castle) has a large altarpiece by Vincenzo Foppa and Ludovico Brea painted in 1490.