What to do in Savona in summer

Tired of tourist overcrowding and looking for authentic places that are still little explored? Then Savona is the ideal destination. The city, a candidate for Italian Capital of Culture 2027, offers unique experiences accessible to all and easily accessible.

 

 

For those who love the sea, Savona boasts 15 beaches awarded with the Blue Flag, a sign of excellence in sustainable management. An example is the Fornaci beach, located in the city, which reflects the community's historic connection with the sea. The Port of the Darsena, in the heart of the historic city, is another important attraction.

 

 

Savona is also famous for its chinotto, a unique citrus fruit grown in the region and a Slow Food presidium since 2004. Chinotto originated in China, from which it takes its name. The chinotto of Savona, introduced to the Ligurian coast by a Savona navigator around 1500, is transformed into various delicacies such as soft drinks, syrups and jams according to a process with a centuries-old tradition. An unmissable stop to savor it is the ancient Besio pastry shop in Piazza Mameli which has kept its secrets since 1860.

 

 

Among the historical wonders, the Priamar Fortress, one of the largest fortifications in the Mediterranean, offers spectacular panoramic views and a rich history, including that of Giuseppe Mazzini, who was imprisoned there. The Priamar is almost 500 years old and dominates the sea with a 360-degree view and was built between 1542 and 1544. Adventurous is the visit to the underground for a journey of about an hour and a half with the torch.

 

 

Savona's link with the birth of the term "film" is also interesting. At the end of 1917 in Ferrania, a village in the Savona area a stone's throw from Cairo Montenotte, the joint-stock company FILM (Fabbrica Italiana Lamine Milano) was established. In 1923 FILM presented the first production of positive film at the Turin exhibition. From that moment on, the word film has become everyone's, also thanks to the English meaning (film originally indicated a thin layer of material, a membrane). The great masters of Italian cinema such as Pasolini, Lattuada, Fellini, Rossellini have imprinted their work on Ferrania films . In the    sixties, at the height of the economic boom, Ferrania was together with Kodak, Fuji, Agfa, one of the only four factories in the world where color films for cinema and photography were produced. The history of this extraordinary factory is now told in a museum, inaugurated in 2018.

 

 

In the kitchen, Savona offers the rare white farinata, a unique specialty of its kind, a legacy of a tradition of 500 years ago, when the Genoese in perpetual struggle with the Savona imposed duties on chickpea flour. The white farinata is crispy and soft and is baked in a dedicated oven at 400 degrees. For a tasting, several local trattorias offer this delicacy cooked in special ovens.

 

 

For technology lovers, the All About Apple Museum is a must-see, with a vast collection of Apple products, all working and interactive. The museum, unique in its kind, collects almost all of Apple's production from the dawn of 1976 to the present day, over 10,000 pieces. To date, it is the most well-stocked Apple Museum in the world with a collection that includes personal computers, monitors, printers, minor peripherals (keyboards, mice, floppy drives, hard drives, accessories...), manuals, brochures, posters, various software titles in cd-rom and floppy disks, packages, prototypes, pins and many other accessories.

 

 

Every day at 6:00 pm, the 21 tolls of the Peace Bell, at the War Memorial, unite the city in a moment of reflection and remembrance for the victims of all wars. At the moment of the first toll, everything stops: the cars in the middle of the intersection, the pedestrians where they are, the merchants while they are serving customers. An intense and exciting experience, which has been going on every day for almost 100 years.

 

 

Ceramics enthusiasts can explore the Museum of Ceramics and the workshops of the Bay of Ceramics, a project that unites Savona and the neighboring municipalities (Albissola Marina, Albisola Superiore and Celle Ligure) in the celebration of this ancient art. At the Museum of Ceramics in the center of Savona, you can try the workshops, even for families. A must stop in the workshops of master potters and ancient manufactures, as well as at the Majolica Festival in May, when ceramics become spectacular with performances on the potter's wheel and monumental kilns.

 

 

Savona is also home to one of the few other Sistine Chapels in the world, built at the behest of Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484), the same Pope who had the Sistine Chapel built in Rome. Unfortunately, the magnificent original frescoes are no longer visible except for a few small portions. The Chapel was restored in Rococo style in 1764 at the behest of the last descendant of the family. In 1814 Giovanni Mazzone's Della Rovere Polyptych was purchased by the Louvre Museum and is now located in Avignon.

 

 

From the port of Savona, whale watching excursions depart in the Cetacean Sanctuary, one of the richest marine protected areas in the Mediterranean. Among the sightings, you can admire groups of striped dolphins, fin whales, Cuvier's beaked whales, sperm whales, pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins of which the CIMA Foundation, based in Savona, deals with scientific research and the state of health of cetaceans.

 

 

Finally, the Pinacoteca di Savona houses the Milani-Cardazzo collection, with works by world-famous artists, offering a cultural experience of the highest level. Milena Milani was one of the great writers of the 20th century. The Foundation of the same name collects the works that she collected during her life together with her partner Carlo Cardazzo, exhibited in the Pinacoteca di Savona. On display, among others, are the famous Portrait of Milena by Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Milena Milani by Lucio Fontana, the works of Magritte, De Chirico, Jorn, Dubuffet, Twombly, Man Ray, Sassu and more.