The Priamar fortress occupies the headland above Savona's port, its powerful sixteenth-century walls visible from much of the city. Built by the Genoese after their conquest of Savona in 1528, it served for centuries as both a military stronghold and, most notoriously, as a prison. Antonio Gramsci, the Marxist theorist and co-founder of the Italian Communist Party, was imprisoned here in the 1920s by the Fascist regime.
The fortress now houses three museums: the Civico Museo Storico Archeologico (archaeology from Savona's prehistoric and Roman past), the Museo Renata Cuneo (sculpture), and the Collezione d'Arte Sandro Pertini (works assembled by the former Italian president who was born in the province). The walls and bastions are freely accessible and worth walking for the views over the port and along the coast. The promontory's history as a site of civic demolition and military occupation gives it an unexpectedly complex atmosphere.