All SEE in Rapallo

Castello di Punta Pagana is a castle located on the promontory of Punta Pagana, inside the private garden of Villa Spinola, in Rapallo. Together with the 16th-century Castle of Santa Margherita Ligure, located to the west, and the Castle-on-the-Sea from Rapallo, to the east, Castello di Punta Pagana it was part of a defense system built by the Republic of Genoa for the protection of the coast and villages on the western part of the Gulf of Tigullio.   SHORT HISTORY The construction work of the fortress started in April 1625, comissioned by the Republic of Genoa and the municipalities of Rapallo, Recco, Chiavari, Moneglia and Sestri Levante. The structure became necessary due to the open hostility between the Genoese republic and Carlo Emanuele I of Savoy, Duke of Savoy, and for the fear of a possible attack by sea. The works were carried out quickly and, by December 1625, the structure was almost finished. In 1627, the moat with the drawbridge was completed and three years later, on July 1631, the fortress was placed under the service of the Republic of Genoa. Although the fortress was equipped with weapons, ammunition and gunpowder necessary for a sudden attack, it never Read more [...]

Chiosco della Musica (Music Kiosk) is a beautiful monument in Rapallo, built in Art Nouveau style and dedicated to the most important Italian and foreign composers in history.   SHORT HISTORY At the beginning of the 20th century, the Italian immigrants of Rapallo in Latin America, desired the kiosk as a gift to the town they came from. The monument, 10 meters in diameter and 9 meters in height, with 12 columns supporting the dome, was designed by the architect Luigi Devoto and inaugurated on November 3, 1929. Inside the dome, work of the painter Giovanni Grifo, are depicted the following composers: Giuseppe Verdi, Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Arrigo Boito, Ludwig van Beethoven, Daniel Auber, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hector Berlioz and Christoph Willibald Gluck on the stalls; Johann Sebastian Bach, Gaspare Spontini, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Domenico Cimarosa, Georges Bizet, Amilcare Ponchielli, Charles Gounod, Gaetano Donizetti, Claudio Monteverdi, Georg Friedrich Handel, Franz Joseph Haydn and Giacomo Puccini in the medallions of the arches. Between the winter of 2009 and the spring of 2011, restoration work were carried out on the structure. The roof and the balustrades were renovated and the pictorial decorations were refreshed. On Read more [...]

Castello sul Mare (Castle-on-the-Sea) is a small castle in Rapallo, located on the waterfront Vittorio Veneto. The castle is the symbol of the town and was declared a national monument by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage.   SHORT HISTORY The decision to build a castle for defensive purposes was taken after the events of July 4, 1549, when Rapallo suffered the assault of the Turkish pirate Dragut, who looted the town and kidnapped 22 young girls. The building, based on a design by Antonio de Càrabo, was begun in 1550, and the works were completed one year later. With the construction of the Castle of Rapallo, the entire western area of the Gulf of Tigullio was completed with a defensive system, which included also the castles of Portofino, Paraggi, Santa Margherita Ligure and the nearby Punta Pagana. The new mayor of Rapallo, Benedetto Fieschi Raggio, was able to inaugurate the castle on May 10, 1551, and asked the Genoese Senate for the necessary artillery to defend the castle. In the following years, the castle was modified several times, expanding its structure. In 1608, it became the seat of the captainship of Rapallo. Here, the captain had his office, while in Read more [...]