Palazzo Della Rovere, Renaissance palace in Savona, Italy.
Palazzo Della Rovere, also called Palazzo Santa Chiara, stands in Savona's medieval centre between the cathedral and the former Via Pia. Its surviving facade, built from 1496 by Matteo dei Gaggini to designs by Giuliano da Sangallo, shows only the ground order: white marble Doric pilasters against black stone panels. The planned nine-bay front was never completed.
The building was commissioned around 1495 under architect Giuliano da Sangallo's direction. It reflects the period when Savona underwent significant architectural transformation and development.
The name Santa Chiara comes from the Poor Clares who occupied the palace from 1676, plastering over its interior decorations for religious reasons. The facade's white marble pilasters against black stone recall Genoese black-and-white tradition, while the entrance vault repeats the roundels Giuliano da Sangallo used in Florence.
The palace has been closed to the public for years while awaiting restoration and a new use. It stands in the medieval centre between the Nostra Signora Assunta cathedral and via Pia, so it can only be viewed from the street; the surviving facade reaches the first order, with an entrance vestibule under a barrel vault.
The facade on via Pia survives only up to the first order, built in 1496 by Matteo dei Gaggini of Bissone; the rest of the nine-bay design was never completed. Inside, a barrel-vaulted entrance vestibule carries roundels "all'antica" that Giuliano da Sangallo had first tried in his own Florence house and later repeated at Poggio a Caiano.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,521 contributors worldwide.