Work began in 1550 and by September of the same year the castle was finished: a few months, because the threat was real. The Senate of the Republic of Genoa had resolved to raise a stronghold against the raids of Saracen pirates, who reached this stretch of coast with some regularity. The design is by Antonio de Càrabo, the same man who the following year, in 1551, would sign the castle of Rapallo: two twin fortifications guarding the same gulf.
What to see
The castle stands at the foot of the hill crowned by villa Durazzo-Centurione, and it was originally built right against the sea: the water beat below its walls, and the quay that today separates it from the harbour did not exist. It is a purely defensive building, grown by additions: structural works and upgrades to its armament went on until the early seventeenth century, and then nothing military happened again.
From the eighteenth century, once the pirate raids had ceased, it lost every warlike function and received only repairs and maintenance. In the nineteenth century it twice risked demolition: first when a new town hall was planned on the site, in the years when Santa Margherita was becoming a municipality independent of Rapallo; then in order to widen the adjoining calata Vittorio Emanuele. It survived both times, and at the end of the First World War it was restored and dedicated to the memory of the fallen.
Visiting
It is a two-minute walk from the harbour, up the salita al Castello: it is the first building you meet coming along the promenade, its dark mass set on the spur. The interior has no regular opening, being used for events and ceremonies, so it is worth asking the town council whether it can be entered on the days of your stay. The outside, on the other hand, can be walked around freely, and it is the part that says most.
Our editors' tip
We suggest looking at it from two different points during the same walk: first from the pier, which shows how exposed it was when the sea came right up beneath it, then from above, climbing to the park of villa Durazzo-Centurione that overlooks it. And read the dedication to the fallen: it is the reason the castle is still standing.