Savona

“ SAVONA, with its port, its towers, its engirdling mountains, and its wide-stretching orange and lemon orchards, is a very charming town.
The port, with its picturesque tower, engages the eye at once. The cathedral, built in 1604, is in the uninteresting style of that period. It contains some good pictures by Brea, 1495, and Aurelio Robertelli, 1449; and the tomb of the parents of Pope Sixtus IV. who was a native of Celle, near Savona. His father was a poor boat or fisherman called della Rovere ”

“ Of other Seas, shall be found a Sea Monster,
Near to that place shall be made a Sanctuary,
Which shall make Savone a slave to Turin. ANNOT. When by the overflowing of the Neighbouring Seas, a Sea Monster shall be cast upon the Sand, near to that Place shall be built a Fort, that shall make Savona a slave to Turin.
Savona is a Town by the Sea side, belonging to the Genoese, Turin is the chief City of Piemont, belonging to the Duke of Savoy.
LXXXIX.
French. ”

“ SAVONAhe therefore plied both sails and oars, to get under the protection of a Genoese galley that passed not far before us, and in whose company we sailed as far as the Cape of Savona, a town built at the rise of the Apennines: for all this coast (except a little of St. Remo) is a high and steep mountainous ground, consisting all of rock-marble, without any grass, tree, or rivage, formidable to look on. A strange object it is, to consider how some poor cottages stand fast on the declivities of these precipices, and by what steps the inhabitants ascend to them. ”

“ There has been brought into prominence and published lately a memoir of the illustrious natives of Savona, written by a lawyer, Giovanni Vincenzo Verzellino, who died in that town in 1638. This document was printed at Savona in 1885, under the editorial care of Andrea Astengo; but Harrisse has given greater currency to its elucidations for our purpose in his Christophe Colomb et Savone (Genoa, 1877) . ”

“ The inhabitants of this beautiful island of Hispaniola often resort in their canoes to the isle of Savona, not far distant, where is their chief fishery, especially of tor [21] toises. Hither those fish constantly resort in great multitudes, at certain seasons, there to lay their eggs, burying them in the sands of the shoal, where, by the heat of the sun, which in those parts is very ardent, they are hatched. This island of Savona has little or nothing that is worthy consideration, being so very barren by reason of its sandy soil. ”

“ The Ligurian Apennines may be considered as taking their rise in the neighbourhood of Savona, where a pass of very moderate elevation connects them with the Maritime Alps, of which they are in fact only a continuation. From the neighbourhood of Savona to that of Genoa they do not rise to more than 3000 to 4000 ft., and are traversed by passes of less than 2000 ft. As they extend towards the east they increase in elevation ”

“ SAVONA, a seaport and episcopal see of Liguria, Italy, in the province of Genoa, 27 m. W.S.W. of Genoa by rail, 33 ft. above sea-level, and after Genoa and Nice the most important of the cities of the Riviera. Pop. (1906) 43,836 (town) ; 46,778 (commune) . The greater part of the town is now modern. It is surrounded with green-clad hills and luxuriant orange groves. ”

“ We anchored at Savona about one o’clock, and experienced a delightful afternoon. The port at this place is by nature very fine, and was formerly capable of receiving vessels of war, but has been obstructed materially at its entrance, by the jealousy of the Genoese, under the specious pretence of preventing its harbouring hostile shipping.
As there was no prospect of continuing our voyage to-day, my companion and myself went on shore, after dinner, and amused ourselves with a [122] walk in the country ”

“ And when, at last, the packet-boat was safe at anchor in the harbour of Savona, the frigates likewise lay to, within about a cannon-shot of the land, and began, apparently, to make all snug for the night.
Among the passengers who now walked down the gang-plank of the packet-boat on to the quay, thankful for once to British eccentricity for its unaccountable generosity in letting them go their way unmolested, was a man, still young, with an expression of imperturbable good-nature not unmixed with a certain bland shrewdness. ”

“ These three places are filled with visitors. The climate is somewhat more relaxing than at Nice or even Mentone. The date-palm seems to flourish at Bordighera, which is said to have the monopoly of supplying these graceful branches to Rome, for the Church ceremonies at Easter-time.
Savona was the largest town passed on our route. It has a very fine Cathedral, and was at one time a considerable port. A little further eastward on the coast is Pegli, a pretty little seaside place, fast growing [73] into favour. The Imperial Princess of Germany stayed here with her children some time since. ”

“ One beautiful evening of early summer in the year 1810, the packet-boat plying between Genoa and Savona reached the latter port after a fair but exciting passage; for, albeit the sea was scarcely ruffled by the breeze—which in itself was barely sufficient to fill the sails—yet during the whole of the voyage from Genoa a couple of British frigates had accompanied the packet-boat, keeping however, much to the surprise of the voyagers, at a considerable distance and without manifesting any hostile intention. ”

“ A short way out from Albenga is the Ponte Lungo, an old Roman bridge of the time of the Emperor Honorius. Savona, the largest place between the frontier and Genoa, is still fifty kilometres to the eastward, but midway between it and Albenga is Finale Marina, a town of one main street, two enormous painted churches, an imposing fortification wall, a palm-planted promenade and a municipal palace bearing,{94} over its portal, the arms of a visiting Spanish monarch who ruled here temporarily in the fifteenth century. ”

“ The continuation, outside the town, the Via Monasterio, leads up to the mountains covered with vines, olives, and maritime pines. On the top of the hill are the ruins of Noli castle, with walls garnished with circular towers. The old church, 11th cent., is near the station. Fishing is the chief industry. A beautiful road, 2 m. N. by the coast, leads to Spotorno.
opp. 211 GENOA and SAVONA
to SESTRI-LEVANTE
Savona. ”

“ Saville, Sir Henry, a learned scholar, born in Yorkshire; was tutor to Queen Elizabeth and provost of Eton, and founder of the Savilian professorships of Geometry and Astronomy at Oxford (1549-1642) .
Savona (24) , a seaport of Italy, on the Gulf of Genoa, in the Riviera, 26 m. SW. of Genoa, in the midst of orange groves, &c.; handsomely laid out; has a 16th-century cathedral, castle, palace, picture gallery, &c.; exports pottery and has prosperous iron-works, glass-works, tanneries, &c. ”

“ Like all men of the first order of genius he was great on many sides. It was his glory that he awakened the moral sense and brought the life of God into the soul of man. Savonarola was like the Matterhorn or the Breithorn that lift their peaks so high that they look out upon the Rhine of the north and the Po of the south, upon the vineyards of France and the valleys of Austria. ”

“ All Italy recognized that Savonarola’s voice was arousing a storm that might shake even the power of Rome. Alive to the danger, the pope knew that his foe must be crushed, and the religious carnival of 1496 afforded a good pretext for stronger proceedings against him. The threatened anathema was deferred, but a brief uniting St Mark’s to a new Tuscan branch of the Dominicans now deprived Savonarola of his independent power. ”

“ Not only the Neapolitan exiles but Alexander VTs enemy, the Cardinal della Rovere, had taken refuge in France; the French invasion therefore was aimed not only at the King of Naples, but also at the Pope, whose simoniacal election and scandalous life added fuel to the fire of Savonarola's diatribe. For Charles VIII Naples should be the stepping-stone to the recovery of Jerusalem. So too Savonarola had fondly dreamed that the reform of the Tuscan Congregation should be the pathway to the possession of the Holy Sepulchre. ”

“ At all events in the most youthful of Savonarola's writings is expressed a loathing for the Court of Rome, a belief that throughout all Italy, and above all at Rome, virtue was spent and vice triumphant. The tribute which solitude exacts from those who court her is an abnormal consciousness of self. ”

“ The vices of Florence were those of a rich, commercial city, extravagance in clothes and furniture, in funerals and weddings. Young bourgeois might think the brothel and the tavern the ante-chambers of gentility. Men of all classes gambled and swore. Dowries were high, and it was becoming difficult to marry. Yet in Florentine society there was a healthy consciousness that all this was wrong, and a predisposition in favour of any preacher who would say so. Savonarola's sympathetic nature, when once he had learned his method and his manner, touched this chord. ”

“ Travelled in Italy and found many patrons, amongst them Carlo Emanuele of Savoy, the Gonzagas, and Urban VIII. Died at Savona. Wrote lyrics, pastoral dramas, and fables; and various dialogues and discourses in prose. [Poesie Liriche, Firenze, 1865.]
Tassoni. Born at Modena. Studied at Bologna and Ferrara; a member of the Accademia della Crusca. Was in the service of Cardinal Ascanio Colonna in Rome, and went with him to Spain. Returned to Rome; became a member of the Umoristi. In favour with Carlo Emanuele of Savoy ”

“ The career of Savonarola as a preacher began in 1482, when he was sent first to Ferrara and then to Florence on missions by his superiors. But at neither place did he find acceptance. A prophet has no honor in his own country; and for pagan-hearted Florence, though destined to be the theater of his life-drama, Savonarola had as yet no thundrous burden of invective to utter. ”

“ At Venice family jealousies rarely influenced the State; at Florence they overmastered and corrupted public life. In vain Savonarola, like San Bernardino before him, inveighed against the party nicknames which would surely bring back the horrors of the strife of Guelf and Ghibelline. He became himself the very subject of these factions; he could not shake himself free from a Valori or a Soderini; his opponents regarded him as the dangerous tool of the most ambitious of their rivals. To gain admirable ends he was forced to work through agents who were compromised. ”

“ Savonarola was destroyed, but not his visions or his pleas. They are as fresh and powerful to-day, as magnetic and gripping, as are any that have been made in history.
It was the same with the Bargello, the tombs of the Medici, San Miniato and the basilica and monastery at Fiesole. That last, with the wind singing in the cypresses, a faint mist blowing down the valley of the Arno, all Florence lying below and the lights of evening beginning to appear, stands fixed and clear in my mind. ”

“ To Savonarola's modern biographers no language has seemed too hard for Fra Malatesta who headed the apostasy, and who had witnessed Savonarola's signature of the depositions. But he too had borne a spotless character; he was a man of high birth, a Canon of the Cathedral, who from genuine devotion had joined San Marco, abandoning a fine income and the certainty of advancement. Men of this type may in a moment of physical and spiritual disturbance be weak, but they seldom then begin to be deliberately wicked. ”

“ Of Savonarola it may be said, he was a great reformer, a religious enthusiast, and a martyr. Born at Ferrara, in 1452, he early joined the religious order of Dominicans at Bologna. At first his career as a preacher was not marked by any unusual event, nor did he meet with great success, but on his appointment to the Duomo, crowds came to listen to his preaching, and indeed so eloquent did he become and so effective that, at times, his discourses were interrupted by the masses of the people sobbing and crying in their pews. ”

“ Alone and unaided, Savonarola dared to attack paganism in literature in its stronghold; for Florence was at that time the centre of the Hellenic and Roman revival, and filled with its most passionate devotees. He thus arrayed himself against Italy and the spirit of the age. He denounced pagan literature, and scouted as absurd the fanaticism for its study. Not the laity alone, but the clergy and the hierarchy, came in for a share of his strictures. “In the houses of the great prelates and great doctors,” he cries out, “nothing is thought of but poetry and rhetoric. ”

“ Yet in Florence there was such a genuine and permanent element of what may almost be called puritanism that, had she stood by herself and enjoyed a period of profound peace Savonarola's system might have been partially successful. It would have needed, perhaps, no very professional knowledge to administer the State; the good man might have been not only the good citizen but the good ruler. The experiment was, however, tried at a crisis of peculiar complexity, when the elements of violence abroad and at home were unusually strong-when ethics and politics had least chance of fusion. ”

“ Nevertheless the mob was still idle and therefore dangerous; shops and factories were closed; the artisans restlessly roamed the streets; the French officers were chalking the doors for quarters; unmarried girls were being hurried off to distant convents or country cousins. Prophecy seemed nearing its fulfilment. Why should men work, when either the Millennium or the Cataclysm was upon them!
Savonarola was not in Florence when Piero was expelled. He was chosen on November 5 as one of the envoys who were sent to the French King at Pisa. ”