In 1438 partisans of the Duchy of Milan tore down the castle's entire perimeter; a few years later the people of Camogli rebuilt the walls at their own expense, for 450 Genoese lire according to a document of the time. That figure explains what the Castello della Dragonara really was: not a lord's residence but a collective work of the fishing town, put up and knocked down in step with the wars of Liguria. Its foundation date is uncertain, because the surviving sources are fragmentary: most likely the first half of the 11th century.
What to see
The castle sits on the rocks of via Isola, above the harbour and beside the basilica of Santa Maria Assunta. It began as a lookout and defensive post for the town and for the stretch of sea in front of the cliff, but for the camoglini it was more than that: the place where they gathered to elect their representatives in administration and justice, and where they took shelter when pirates appeared offshore.
The rest is a chronicle of sieges. A document from the second half of the 14th century records the reinforcements and the weapons sent by the Senate of the Republic of Genoa; in the same century came the attacks of Gian Galeazzo Visconti and, in 1366, that of Nicolò Fieschi. Between 1428 and 1430 the inhabitants enlarged the structure, especially the adjoining watchtower. In 1448, with relations between Camogli, Recco and Genoa thoroughly poisoned, the Republic demanded its immediate destruction and got it: six years later the castle stood again, rebuilt by the townspeople and handed over to the doge. In 1461 another demolition was decided and then cancelled for political reasons. From the 16th century, its defensive role gone, the building served as a prison.
Visiting
You reach it on foot from the harbour, a few minutes uphill to the tip of the Isola. It helps to know what stood here in the 1970s: after decades of neglect the castle was restored to house the Tyrrhenian aquarium run by the local tourist board, with seawater tanks holding the marine life of the Camogli coast. The keeper went out himself to catch the fish, crustaceans and molluscs; the star was a large grouper, alongside moray eels, spiny lobsters and hermit crabs. When it closed the animals went to the Genoa aquarium, of which the Dragonara had been a small forerunner.
Our editors' tip
We climb up when the sea is rough and the libeccio hammers the rocks: from up there you understand at once why the town paid again and again to keep these walls standing. Then we walk the few steps down to the basilica next door and finish on the pier, looking at the castle from below: that was the pirates' point of view.