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Savona
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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.
One of the most celebrated former inhabitants of Savona was the navigator Christopher Columbus, who farmed land in the area while chronicling his journeys.
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Encyclopedia
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.
One of the most celebrated former inhabitants of Savona was the navigator Christopher Columbus, who farmed land in the area while chronicling his journeys. 'Columbus's house', a cottage situated in the Savona hills, lay between vegetable crops and fruit trees. It is just one of many residences in Liguria associated with Columbus.
History
Inhabited in ancient times by Ligures tribes, it came under Roman influence in c. 200 BC. after the Punic wars. At the fall of the Roman Empire, it passed under Lombard rule, then acquired independence in the 11th century becoming a free municipality. Subsequently it fought Genoa before being definitively conquered in 1528. It then shared the fortunes of the Republic of Genoa until Napoleonic times, and subsequent annexation to the Savoys (1815).
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).
- 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.
Notable people
Twin towns
External links
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