Castello di Tortona, Medieval castle in Tortona, Italy

The castle of Tortona stood on Savo Hill, the most important of the seven hills on which the city was traditionally founded. The name covers defensive structures built on the same site over two millennia, from a Ligurian castelliere of the 8th–5th century BC to the Savoy fortress of San Vittorio, demolished by Napoleon in 1801. Today only scattered vestiges remain in the park that has occupied the plateau since the early 20th century, including the tower that became a symbol of the city.

The hilltop was fortified by the Ligurians between the 8th and 5th centuries BC as a castelliere above a marshy plain. Around 123 BC the Romans turned it into a castrum while the town itself grew on the drained land below. After the fall of the Western Empire, barbarian raids pushed early medieval Tortona back onto the slopes around the castrum. The Visconti strengthened castle and walls after 1347, but the castle surrendered to Charles VIII of France in 1499.

The name Savo, still used for the hill, recalls the Ligurian fortified village founded there between the 8th and 5th centuries BC. The tower left standing, now a symbol of Tortona, belonged to the 18th-century Fort San Vittorio of Lorenzo Bernardino Pinto, demolished in 1801; the park laid out in the early 20th century holds the scattered remains.

The site now functions as an observation point offering views across Tortona and the surrounding landscape from its elevated position. The paths on the hilltop can be steep in places, so sturdy footwear is recommended for comfortable access.

The tower that survives in the park is a remnant of Fort San Vittorio, rebuilt from 1773 by military engineer Lorenzo Bernardino Pinto. Its ramparts rose over 30 metres from the ditch floor, and 54 metres at the San Maurizio bastion, heights the sources call almost without example.