Torre Leon Pancaldo, Medieval tower in Savona, Italy.
Torre Leon Pancaldo stands at the entrance to Via Paleocapa on Savona's harbour. Its square plan measures about six metres on each side and rises roughly twenty-three metres; the base is slightly battered on three sides, while the north-west side with the entrance is straight. At about two-thirds of its height runs a cornice of three tiers of projecting Gothic arches, interrupted on the north-west side, and the top carries a battlement with merlons in groups of three.
First documented in 1392 as the Torre della Quarda, it formed part of Savona's city walls, defending the adjacent Quarda gate and the harbour. After the Genoese destroyed the walls in 1527 the tower stood isolated; its entrance side was later walled up and the interior divided into several floors. It now bears the name of the Savonese navigator Leon Pancaldo, who sailed with Magellan.
The tower and the square around it are named after Leon Pancaldo, a Savonese navigator who joined Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe. The building is also called Torre della Quarda, after the adjacent gate it once defended. Since the 1990s it has housed the ANMI "Vanni Folco" group, and the ground-floor room holds naval memorabilia.
The tower stands at the entrance to Via Paleocapa, facing Savona's port. The square is a pedestrian area, and the tower can be reached on foot from the city center. The ground-floor hall, decorated with Italian Navy memorabilia, is used by the ANMI group.
The tower's top is crowned by a merlature with merlons arranged in groups of three, probably dating to the 18th century. On the seaward side an 18th-century fresco shows the coat of arms of the Republic of Genoa, and in the same period a small shrine was built there for Filippo Parodi's 1662 statue of Nostra Signora della Misericordia.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,785 contributors worldwide.