Savona

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This article is about the Italian city. For the small town of Savona, Canada, please see Savona, British Columbia, or the village in the USA, see Savona, New York.

Comune di Savona
Municipal coat of arms
Country	Italy
Region	Liguria
Province	Savona (SV)
Mayor	Federico Berruti

Elevation	m
Area	65 km²
Population
- Total (as of December 12, 2004)	61,742
- Density	921/km²
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	44°18′N, 8°29′E
Gentilic	Savonesi
Dialing code	019
Postal code	17100
Frazioni	Lavagnola, Légino, Zinola, Santuario
Patron	Our Lady of Misericordy
- Day	March 18
Website: www.comune.savona.it

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, at sea-level.

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.

[edit] History

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Savona is the Roman Savo of the Ingauni, 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. 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 Sardinia, but it was restored to Genoa by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

[edit] 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).
Near the Cathedral (built 1589 – 1604) is the Cappella Sistina (Sistine Chapel), containing the tomb erected by the Della Rovere Pope Sixtus IV to honor his parents. The Cathedral has one of the most notworthy wooden choirs of XVI cent. European churches.
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 Leone 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.