Description
The Castello San Giorgio is the Genoese fortress that towers over La Spezia from the Poggio hill, above the old town, where the city was born. Inside, it holds the Formentini Archaeological Museum, with the mysterious statue-stelae of Lunigiana.
You reach it from Via XXVII Marzo, which runs between the remains of the 14th-century walls: about three hundred meters of ramparts, with Ghibelline swallowtail merlons, the sentry walk and the narrow arrow slits for the archers.
Outside, look at the west entrance: above the gate are the coat of arms of Genoa and a bas-relief of St. George fighting the dragon. In the meadow in front of the portal lie the bases of the old drawbridge, watched over by a tower with Guelph merlons.
The castle is really two fortresses side by side. Higher up you can make out medieval masonry and a square block 5.50 meters on each side, perhaps the original tower. Further up the hill stands the 17th-century block, square, with polygonal bastions at its four corners.
The rooms of the Formentini Museum are the reason to go in. On the lower floor are the statue-stelae: human figures carved in stone between the Copper Age and the Iron Age, found along the Magra River. Nineteen originals are on display.
The upper floor holds the marbles of Luni, the Roman colony of the Magra valley: the busts of Tiberius and of a Julio-Claudian prince, a large mosaic with a panther among palm trees, theater masks and winged genii, and thirty-one early medieval gold plaques.
Among the bases of Roman statues, a few have had the name chiseled off: this is damnatio memoriae, Rome's way of erasing the memory of those who had fallen from grace.
The first castle was commissioned by Nicolò Fieschi in 1262, who enlarged an old fort on the hill. Eleven years later the Genoese under Oberto Doria stormed it and destroyed it. Rebuilt several times, in 1606 Genoa decided to strengthen it with the new fortress further uphill.
In 1609 the garrison numbered twenty men: a captain, two bombardiers, a drummer and sixteen soldiers. The castellan had to be a nobleman and was not allowed to leave the fortress, on pain of death.
In 1885 the castle came close to disappearing: there were plans to build the new hospital on the hill. The project, too expensive, was shelved, partly because of opposition from the office for the protection of monuments. Restoration began in 1985 and was finished in 1998.
Don't miss
• The statue-stelae.
• The bas-relief of St. George and the dragon.
• The panther mosaic.
• The 14th-century walls.
Did you know?
• In 1907 the painter Felice Del Santo, while painting inside the fortress, claimed he had seen a dragon, or perhaps a very large lizard.
• The earliest statue-stelae date back to the 4th millennium BC.
You reach it from Via XXVII Marzo, which runs between the remains of the 14th-century walls: about three hundred meters of ramparts, with Ghibelline swallowtail merlons, the sentry walk and the narrow arrow slits for the archers.
Outside, look at the west entrance: above the gate are the coat of arms of Genoa and a bas-relief of St. George fighting the dragon. In the meadow in front of the portal lie the bases of the old drawbridge, watched over by a tower with Guelph merlons.
The castle is really two fortresses side by side. Higher up you can make out medieval masonry and a square block 5.50 meters on each side, perhaps the original tower. Further up the hill stands the 17th-century block, square, with polygonal bastions at its four corners.
The rooms of the Formentini Museum are the reason to go in. On the lower floor are the statue-stelae: human figures carved in stone between the Copper Age and the Iron Age, found along the Magra River. Nineteen originals are on display.
The upper floor holds the marbles of Luni, the Roman colony of the Magra valley: the busts of Tiberius and of a Julio-Claudian prince, a large mosaic with a panther among palm trees, theater masks and winged genii, and thirty-one early medieval gold plaques.
Among the bases of Roman statues, a few have had the name chiseled off: this is damnatio memoriae, Rome's way of erasing the memory of those who had fallen from grace.
The first castle was commissioned by Nicolò Fieschi in 1262, who enlarged an old fort on the hill. Eleven years later the Genoese under Oberto Doria stormed it and destroyed it. Rebuilt several times, in 1606 Genoa decided to strengthen it with the new fortress further uphill.
In 1609 the garrison numbered twenty men: a captain, two bombardiers, a drummer and sixteen soldiers. The castellan had to be a nobleman and was not allowed to leave the fortress, on pain of death.
In 1885 the castle came close to disappearing: there were plans to build the new hospital on the hill. The project, too expensive, was shelved, partly because of opposition from the office for the protection of monuments. Restoration began in 1985 and was finished in 1998.
Don't miss
• The statue-stelae.
• The bas-relief of St. George and the dragon.
• The panther mosaic.
• The 14th-century walls.
Did you know?
• In 1907 the painter Felice Del Santo, while painting inside the fortress, claimed he had seen a dragon, or perhaps a very large lizard.
• The earliest statue-stelae date back to the 4th millennium BC.