SAVONA, a seaport and episcopal see of Liguria, Italy, the capital of the province of Savona, 27 m. W.S.W. of Genoa by rail, 33 ft. above sea-level, and after Genoa and Nice the most important of the cities of the Riviera. Pop. (1931) 46,010, town; 60,621, commune. The greater part of the town is now modern with fine streets with porticoes. It is surrounded with green-clad hills and luxuriant orange groves. Near the shore stands the castle built by the Genoese in 1542, on the area of the old cathedral, and now occupied by large iron-works. The cathedral (1589-1604) is a late Renaissance building with a 12th century font, fine choir-stalls and pulpit (I5o0). In the Cap pella Sistina, to the north, stands the finely carved tomb erected by Sixtus IV. to his parents. Facing the cathedral is the Della Rovere palace erected by Cardinal Giulio della Rovere (Julius II.) from the plans of Giuliano da Sangallo, now occupied by various public buildings, the prefecture, the post-office and law-courts. The municipal picture gallery is interesting, and there are some fine old buildings in the town. Good majolica was made in the i6th, 17th and 18th centuries. The Teatro Chiabrera was erected in 1853 in honour of the lyric poet Chiabrera (1552-1637). The harbour, dating from 1815, has since 1880 been provided with a dock excavated in the rock, 986 ft. long, 46o ft. wide and 23
ft. deep. Savona is one of the chief seats of the Italian iron industry, having iron-works and foundries, shipbuilding, railway workshops, a railway signal factory, engineering shops, brass foundry, tinplate works, sulphur mills and glass-works. In 1926 1,610 vessels of 1,251,207 tons entered and cleared the port, dealing with 1,301,070 tons of merchandise, of which 1,202,967 tons were imports, almost entirely foreign coal and petrol. The coal is dealt with by an extensive telferage system. There is a railway through the mountains from Savona to Turin (91 m. N.N.W.).
Savona is the ancient Savo, a town of the Ingauni (see ALBENGA), but less important than Vada Sabatia (Vado), 4 m. to the W., up to which the coast road from Rome was recon structed in 109 B.C., from which a road diverged across the Apennines to Placentia. In 1191 Savona bought up the territorial claims of the marquesses Del Carretto. Its whole history is that of a long struggle against the preponderance of 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.