Two popes in twenty years: Sixtus IV and Julius II, both della Rovere, both from Savona — and the Sistine Chapel of Savona, commissioned by the first for his parents, is the only sister of the Roman one. On the harbour, the Priamar fortress recalls the long match with Genoa, which in 1528 went as far as having half the city destroyed by the troops of Andrea Doria and Charles V; the two surviving medieval towers frame the ferry and cruise terminals.
The third comune in Liguria and the main centre of the western Riviera, Savona was famous in the Middle Ages for its soap, and several sources hold that Christopher Columbus was born here. Under the French, from 1805, it was the capital of the department of Montenotte. Today it is also the home of the chinotto, the bitter citrus that became a national soft drink, and a capital of art ceramics together with nearby Albissola. The city beaches and the Ligurian west begin here.
Oratorio di Nostra Signora di Castello · Palazzo Gavotti
Pesto alla Genovese
Compare hotels, B&Bs and holiday homes on Booking.com for your dates.
Next up: Our Lady of Mercy, patron who appeared to Antonio Botta in 1536, Thursday 18 March
Nearest airport: Genova, 31 km away
No events match these filters.
📅 Every year, on 18 March, with great bonfires lit the night before in the bed of the Letimbro stream
Savona celebrates Our Lady of Mercy on 18 March, with great bonfires lit in the bed of the Letimbro stream; her Baroque sanctuary, built after the Madonna's apparition to Antonio Botta in 1536, holds an altar by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Savona, but an easy day trip away.
