EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

First impressions of SAVONA , 17km northeast of Noli, aren't up to much: it's a functional city much rebuilt after a hammering in World War II. However, its port infrastructure and ugly outskirts hide a picturesque medieval centre worth exploring - especially when it's taken over on summer Saturdays by a huge antiques and bric-à-brac market. The town's main claim to fame is as the Città dei Papi , City of Popes: local boy Francesco Della Rovere became Pope Sixtus IV in 1471, and had a large private chapel built within the Vatican (named the Sistine Chapel after himself) and his nephew Giuliano, who became Pope Julius II in 1503, commissioned Michelangelo to decorate the chapel's ceiling.

Savona lies at the southern end of a time-honoured route over the mountains, and the town's links with Turin are maintained to this day via the autostrada and main train line. The train station is in the west of town, across the River Letimbro from the old quarter which nestles in the curve of the old port and bristles with medieval towers. Via Don Minzoni, to the left of the station as you walk out, heads east across the river to the parks of Piazza del Popolo, from where the main Via Paleocapa , lined by Art Nouveau arcades, continues east to the port. Savona's tourist office is nearby at Via Guidobono 125r (Mon-Sat 9am-12.30pm & 3.30-7pm; tel 019.840.2321). The Dominican church of San Giovanni marks the point where Via Pia heads south into the atmospheric old quarter, which is dominated by the Duomo and its attached Cappella Sistina , a Baroque extravaganza commissioned by Sixtus IV in memory of his parents.

Above the old town is the huge Priamàr fortress, built in 1528 by the Genoese as a sign of their superiority over the defeated Savonese. These days it houses four major museums, led by the Pinacoteca Civica (July & Aug Mon-Sat 8.30am-1pm & 6.30-11.30pm; rest of year Mon-Sat 8.30am-1pm, Tues & Thurs until 6.30pm; L4000/¬2.06), with a collection of mostly mediocre Baroque paintings overshadowed by a striking Renaissance Crucifixion by Donato de' Bardi. The interesting Museo d'Arte Sandro Pertini (Mon-Sat 8.30am-1pm), displaying modern Italian art collected by Pertini, one-time President of Italy, and the Museo Renata Cuneo (closed for renovation at the time of writing) housing contemporary sculpture by Cuneo, a Savona local, share a joint L4000/¬2.06 admission ticket. Completing the array is the Museo Civico (Tues-Sat 10am-noon & 3-5pm, Sun 3-5pm; L4000/¬2.06), which has Greek and Etruscan bits and bobs along with some Islamic and Byzantine ceramics.

There are no hotels in the old town, but the decent Riviera Suisse , Via Paleocapa 24 (tel 019.850.853, fax 019.853.435; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98) is very close by. The more convenient and enticing of Savona's two HI hostels is Fortezza del Priamar in the old fortress (tel & fax 019.812.653, priamarhostel@iol.it ; L22,000/¬11.36; bus #2). The best campsite is Buggi , at Via N.S. del Monte 15 (tel 019.804.573).