Fort San Giovanni

Fort San Giovanni is a fortress in the Ligurian municipality of Finale Ligure, in the province of Savona, located at an altitude of 50 m a.s.l.

Since December 2014, the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities has been managing it through the Liguria Museum Complex, which in December 2019 became the Regional Directorate for Museums.

The current Fort San Giovanni was built in order to strengthen the defenses from the Spaniards from 1640 to 1644 on the ruins of a tower dating back to the mid-fifteenth century. This tower (remembered by Gianmario Filelfo and of which we have news from a drawing of 1571), today constitutes the central body, an octagonal plan, of the fortress.

Much more recent than the nearby Castel Gavone, it constituted an advanced defense and simultaneously protected and controlled Finalborgo, the capital of the Marquisate of Finale.

It was often restored and expanded in its sectors by the Spaniards between 1674 and 1678, led by the engineer Gaspare Beretta, who took care of the direct connection with the village and the reinforcement of the fortifications.

It was abandoned in 1707 and ceded by Austria to Genoa in 1713, which partially demolished it.

In 1822 it became a penitentiary, then from 1960 it was confiscated by the state property and in recent years completely restored.

Map: Fort San Giovanni

vCard Info:

Address: Castel San Giovanni, Str. Beretta, 17024
Finale Ligure (SV) Liguria
Latitude: 44.177425827849326
Longitude: 8.325029611587524
Site: https://www.musei.liguria.beni...

vCard created by: giulia
Currently owned by: giulia

Type: Manufactured
Function: Fortification
Creation date: 03-03-2021 03:28
Last update: 13/04/2023