Eleven unique (and unmissable) things to do ONLY in Savona.
Savona, on the Ligurian coast, is for travellers tired of overtourism, and there are eleven (unmissable) things you can do only there - from culture to food and wine, and from the environment to art.
The Savona area has 15 Blue Flag beaches
This is the area with the most flags in the whole of Italy, and some beaches are right in the city! The Savona area has long held the record as the province with the greatest number of beaches awarded Blue Flags - an award for seaside resorts that respect strict criteria of sustainable land management such as water quality, the enhancement of natural areas and the possibility of access for all without limitations. Among Savona’s Blue Flag beaches the Fornaci Beach is located in a popular city district.
ph credits: the Municipality of Savona
Taste the only authentic Chinotto
The chinotto – citrus myrtifoglia in English – is a small citrus fruit with a unique quality and aroma. Originally from China, around 1500 it was transplanted to the Ligurian coast and it adapted perfectly to its new environment. Savona’s Chinottois not eaten raw but processed into drinks, syrups, liqueurs, jams. There are several places where it can be tasted in the form of a drink with a bitter aftertaste, including the old Besio confectioner's shop in Piazza Mameli, which since 1860 has guarded the secrets of processing the chinotto.
Explore the Priamar fortification
Almost 500 years old and towering over the sea with 360-degree views, the Priamar is one of the most majestic fortified constructions in the entire Mediterranean. Built between 1542 and 1544 to defend the territory from attack, it was once a prison and today is a cultural centre. Not to be missed: a visit to the underground passages. Tours last about an hour and a half and a torch and comfortable shoes are recommended.
ph credits Ferrania Museum
Did you know that the word film was born just outside Savona?
At the end of 1923 in Ferrania, a village in the Savona area, the FILM (Fabbrica Italiana Lamine Milano) company presented the first production of positive cinematographic film at the Turin Exhibition. In the 1960s, at the height of the economic boom, Ferrania was, together with Kodak, Fuji, Agfa, one of only four factories in the world producing colour film, for cinema and photography. Today, a museum opened in 2018, tells the story of this extraordinary factory.
Taste the famous Farinata Bianca
If you are familiar with the yellow chickpea farinata, in Savona you will find the world’s only white farinata. The perfect white farinata must have the just right consistency, crunchy but at the same time soft, and be cooked in a special oven at a temperature of 400 degrees Celsius. And the same oven cannot be used to make pizzas.
Apple Museum - ph credit AAA Museum
All About Apple. Over 10,000 items on display
This museum is unique of its kind and can boast the entire Apple production from the dawn of 1976 to the present day- over 10,000 pieces. To date, it is the best stocked Apple museum in the world and allows visitors to explore first-hand the machines on display - over a hundred of them, in rotation – all of which are switched on and in working order. The collection includes personal computers, monitors, printers, minor peripherals, manuals, brochures, posters, various software titles in cd-roms and floppy disks, packages, prototypes, pins and many other accessories. In addition, an area is dedicated to non-Apple machines: a tribute to the home and personal computers of the pre ms-dos era.
Apple Museum - ph credit AAA Museum
Thrill to the tolling of the Peace Bell
Every day at 6pm, the bell at the War Memorial strikes 21 chimes, one per letter of the alphabet, in memory of the victims of all wars. At the instant of the first chime everything stops: cars in the middle of crossroads, pedestrians on the spot where they find themselves, shopkeepers as they are serving customers. This is an intense and emotional experience which has been going on every day for almost 100 years. Fun fact: this is the Savona attraction with the highest score on TripAdvisor. 
Ceramics Museum - ph credits Federico Farci
A world of white and blue maiolica
Blue veins that contrast with the white of the glaze: the charm of maiolica ceramics is timeless and still today it is synonymous with quality and its roots are in the Savona area. In the Ceramics Museum in the heart of the town, you visit the maiolica workshops, also those of master ceramists, and at the Majolica Festival in May visitors will find pottery wheel exhibitions and monumental kilns.
Sistine Chapel
Enter the world's only “other” Sistine Chapel
Savona has the “other” Sistine Chapel, commissioned by the same Pope, Sixtus IV (1471-1484), a great patron of art together with his nephew Giuliano Della Rovere, later to become Pope Julius II. The magnificent original frescoes are no longer visible except for a few small portions, but this rarity is well worth a visit.
Whale watching in the Pelagos Cetacean Sanctuary
From the port of Savona, located in the historic centre, you can set off on daily excursions of whale watching in the Pelagos Cetacean Sanctuary. marine area is among the richest in marine life in the Mediterranean. Every year research vessels travel around the Mediterranean to monitor the health status and sightings of cetaceans. In 2023 2,900 kilometres were covered and more than 360 sightings recorded, most of them of dolphin, followed by fin whales, sperm whales, pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins.
On the trail of Milena Milani, with Picasso Magritte and others
Milena Milani was one of the great writers of the 20th century, and her voice is kept alive by the Milena Milani Foundation with the works she collected during her lifetime, together with her partner Carlo Cardazzo, and exhibited today in the Savona Art Gallery. On display are, among others, the famous “Portrait of Milena” by Pablo Picasso, “Portrait of Milena Milani” by Lucio Fontana as well as important works by Magritte, De Chirico, Jorn, Dubuffet, Twombly, Man Ray, Sassu and others.
