Complesso del Brandale

The Campanassa bell hangs in the Brandale tower, beside the square where Savona’s medieval government was based.

Why it matters

The official city portal presents the Brandale as the principal tower of the fifty towers that once studded Savona's medieval wall ring. Bought by the Comune at the start of the fourteenth century, it housed the instruments of communal government, and the tower complex next to the Palazzo degli Anziani made this square the political heart of medieval Savona. The association A Campanassa, headquartered in the complex since its foundation in 1924, keeps the civic memory alive. During Genoese rule the tower was reduced from 49.6 to 31.6 metres. A public subscription led to its restoration to full height in 1931.

What to notice

The halls contain paintings, inscriptions and sculptures from the medieval period through the nineteenth century, including fragments and marble reliefs preserved from buildings altered or destroyed over time. The Sala dell’Anziania and twelve ceramic coats of arms on the first cornice recall the dynasties and governments that ruled Savona, from local lords to the Republic of Genoa and Napoleon. The Campanassa is the complex’s great bell, which sounds the hours and half-hours across the city. The belfry overlooks the coastline towards Genoa and Portofino, as well as the port, the darsena and the Priamar fortress.

Context and history

The tower’s history includes several documented disasters and repairs. The association's own history page records the disasters it survived: the explosion of the San Giorgio castle powder magazine on 7 July 1648, which killed more than eight hundred people in a city of six thousand and damaged the Brandale; roof collapses after the earthquakes of 1668 and 1767; and the earthquake of 23 February 1887, which left the structure declared unfit and required iron tie-rods. The association that led the tower’s restoration, A Campanassa, has its headquarters in the complex and promotes local traditions. The Genoese had already halved its height in the sixteenth century; a partial raising followed in 1583, but the full restoration to roughly 49.6 metres came only with the public subscription the association promoted from 1926, completed in 1931 together with the casting of a new bell.