a town of the kingdom of Sardinia, capital of a division of the same name, on the shore of the Mediterranean, 25 miles S.W. of Genoa. It stands at the foot of a hill to the W., and is partially surrounded by ancient walls, and defended by a citadel of no great strength. The town itself has some good houses; but, for the most part, it is not well built, and has extremely narrow streets. There is a fine cathedral, built in 1604, when the former one was removed to make room for the citadel. Many valuable works of art adorn the present edifice. The Sistine chapel was erected by Pope Sixtus IV. as a burial-place for his family. The Dominican church contains paintings by Albert Durer and Antonio Semini; and the church of San Giacomo contains the tomb of Chiabrera, a celebrated lyric poet, and a native of this place. Savona has several convents, an episcopal seminary, two colleges, hospitals, and other charitable institutions. The harbour, which was once very good, was partially filled up by the Genoese, out of jealousy of the commerce of Savona. It is still safe, though only accessible to small vessels. A considerable trade is carried on in silk, wine, and fruit. Savona is the seat of a bishop, public offices, and law courts, and many of the nobility have fine palaces in the town. Pop. 17,000.

The administrative division of Savona comprises the three provinces of Acqui, Savona, and Albenga, the first lying inland, and the other two along the coast. The principal mountains are the Apennines, which have in this division a considerably lower altitude than in the other parts of the range. They stretch nearly parallel to the coast, at no great distance from it, and send down numerous small streams and torrents to the sea. The northern part of Savona is occupied with ramifications of the Apennines, and watered by many small affluents of the Po. The whole division is very fertile, especially the valley of Albenga, producing corn, wine, oil, fruit, hemp, &c. The division is subdivided as follows:

| Province | Area in Square Miles | Pop. (1853) | |----------|----------------------|------------| | Savona | 311 | 79,643 | | Acqui | 444 | 106,819 | | Albenga | 263 | 58,485 | | Total | 1018 | 244,947 |