Tourism Savona - Italy

Savona: Tourism information Savona

Savona (Sàn-na in the local dialect of Ligurian) is a seaport and comune in the northern Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea.
Savona used to be one of the chief seats of the Italian iron industry, having iron-works and foundries, shipbuilding, railway workshops, engineering shops, brass foundry.

Savona history

Savona is the Roman Savo of the Sabatian Ligures, where, according to Livy, Mago stored his booty in the Second Punic War.
The place was outshone in importance in Roman times by the harbor at Vada Sabatia (Vado), from which a road diverged across the Apennines to Placentia. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Savona was destroyed by the Lombard king Rotari in 641, and thenceforth decayed. Later it became the seat of a county in Carolingian times, and has to face subsequently the Saracen menace.
In 1191 the commune of Savona bought out the territorial claims of the feudal lords, the marchesi Del Carretto. Its whole history is that of a long struggle against Genoa. As early as the 12th century the Savonese built themselves a sufficient harbour, but in the 16th century the Genoese, fearing that Francis I of France intended to make it a great seat of Mediterranean trade, rendered it useless by sinking at its mouth vessels filled with large stones. In 1746 Savona was captured by the king of Piedmont and Sardinia, but it was restored to the Republic of Genoa by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
In 1815 Savona was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia, with which it became part of unified Italy in 1861. during World War II it was heavily bombed. After the reconstruction, Savona developed as an industrial and maritime centre, becoming an important turistic hub in the 1970s

Savona: Main sights

Near the Rocca di San Giorgio, on the "Promontorio del Priamar", stands the fortress named Priamar, built after fall of Savona in Genoese hands (1528) by the Genoese in 1542, on the area of the old cathedral and old city and later used as a prison and military prison (Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini was imprisoned here).
Cappella Sistina (Savona)- 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 e Luchina Monleone. Construction commissioned from 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 in Rome. After years of deterioration, in 1765-1767 reconstruction was commissioned 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 (Pope Julius II) from the plans of Giuliano da Sangallo as a university.
The old towers, survived after 1528 ruin (war with Genoa): the Campanassa (Commune tower where freedom of Savona was signed in 1191), towers Corsi and Riario, "Ghibelline Tower", and Torre della Quarda (also known as "a Torretta"), in 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.

Savona localities:
Albenga Albisola Marina Albisola Superiore Altare Andora Arnasco Balestrino Bardineto Bergeggi Boissano Borghetto Santo Spirito Borgio Verezzi Bormida CAIRO MONTENOTTE Calice Ligure CALIZZANO Carcare Casanova Lerrone Castelbianco Castelvecchio Di Rocca Barbena Celle Ligure Cengio Ceriale Cisano Sul Neva Cosseria Dego Erli FINALE LIGURE GARLENDA Giustenice Giusvalla Laigueglia Loano Magliolo Mallare Massimino MILLESIMO Mioglia MURIALDO Nasino Noli Onzo ORCO FEGLINO Ortovero Osiglia Pallare PIANA CRIXIA PIETRA LIGURE Plodio Pontinvrea QUILIANO Rialto Roccavignale Sassello Savona SPOTORNO Stella Stellanello Testico Toirano TOVO SAN GIACOMO Urbe Vado Ligure Varazze Vendone Vezzi Portio Villanova D''albenga Zuccarello

Part of the information regarding the history, the art, the traditions and the events of the province of present Savona on this page is drawn from the situated one www.wikipedia.org respecting the GNU Free Documentation License.