Priamar Fortress dominates the headland above Savona’s port, a broad-shouldered sixteenth-century citadel built to control the city as much as to defend it. Walk its ramparts for the clearest view of Savona’s shape: harbour below, old town inland, mountains rising almost immediately behind the coast.
Inside the complex are museums, exhibition spaces, courtyards, and archaeological remains from the older city that was cleared to make room for the fort. Even if you skip the museums, the walk up is worth it for the scale of the walls and the sense of Savona’s long, uneasy relationship with Genoa.