Castello di Lerici

Lerici Castle rises over the eastern arm of the Gulf of Poets. Its pentagonal Renaissance shell encloses an older tower and the chapel of Santa Anastasia, whose two-tone stonework preserves the Pisan and Genoese layers of the fortress's history.

Why it matters

The castle records the rivalries that shaped this coast. A deed of 1152 mentions a lookout tower at Lerici; Pisa seized and strengthened the site after its victory at the Battle of the Giglio in 1241, and Genoa retook the borgo and castle in 1256. The fortress later served as a prison, holding high-ranking captives including Francis I of France after his defeat at Pavia in 1525. Its position above the Magra plain explains its strategic importance across successive periods.

What to notice

The Cappella di Santa Anastasia preserves bichrome bands of black stone and white marble. Its vaults carry images of Saint George and the dragon and a lamb with Genoa's cross banner; the chapel doorway bears an inscription recalling the Genoese reconquest of 1256. Outside, the scarped wall, musketry openings and pentagonal tower show the changes made for gunpowder warfare. The tower encloses an older, smaller Pisan structure. In the sperone, an advance bastion predating the 1555 campaign, a cistern and domed bread oven recall the castle's long garrison and prison use.

Context and history

After the Genoese reconquest, the fortress was refitted for gunpowder-era defence from around 1340. A later sequence of changes included brief periods under the Fieschi, Orléans and Florentine powers in the 1390s, before Lerici returned to Genoa in 1437. The 1555 campaign under the Offizio di San Giorgio completed the castle's familiar pentagonal form. The fortress's chapel, walls and service spaces preserve these military layers, while its ramparts overlook Lerici and the islands of the Gulf of Poets.