Discover Castel Gavone, Finale Ligure

Castel Gavone, also Castel Govone, was the principal seat of the Del Carretto marquises, lords of Finale. It stands near the present frazione of Perti, in the comune of Finale Ligure, province of Savona.

It is on the spur that commands the capital. The castle sits above the Becchignolo hill, the rocky spur dominating Finalborgo, capital of the Marquisate of Finale — a walled town that has its own page here.

It is a ruin, and deliberately so. Genoese sappers demolished the castle in 1715, after the Republic of Genoa's purchase of the marquisate; it had already been part-demolished by Genoa in 1448 and rebuilt within four years. (The comune's own overview dates the demolition to 1713 instead. Three statements give 1715, including this castle's record and the comune overview's own history section, and 1713 is the year of the purchase.)

The comune has owned it since 1989. The castle was donated to the Comune di Finale Ligure on 29 December 1989, which carried out a first phase of recovery aimed at conserving the imposing ruins and opening them to visitors. A lift allows the summit of the Torre dei Diamanti to be reached, where the view opens over the Finalese.

This is a textbook case of a castle caught between two kinds of warfare. The design of the sixteenth-century enlargements is described as a typical example of so-called transitional military architecture — the decades in which a tall medieval castle had to be turned into something that could absorb gunfire.

The tower is the answer to artillery, not to siege ladders. The Torre dei Diamanti terminates a triangular body added about 1490 for one purpose: to defend the castle against artillery fire from the slope descending to the sea. Its keeled form and its diamond-point rustication present sloped, hardened faces to a shot rather than a flat wall.

The design appears to be Francesco di Giorgio's. The enlargements seem inspired by Francesco di Giorgio Martini, the military architect and theorist, with whom Alfonso I is thought to have had occasion to meet in Rome and perhaps in Milan. The comune's own survey calls the tower an extraordinary example of seigneurial architecture on that model.

Everything outside the walls is counter-engineering. The traverse, the point and the covered way at the foot of the outer circuit exist to stop enemy sappers getting close; the cut-away spur on the north side exists to deny them a platform. Read together with Castel San Giovanni below, the site is a single system for keeping guns off the high ground.

It was built four times over, each time for a different weapon. A caminata of about 1172; fortified in 1217; rebuilt in 1451-52 after Genoa part-demolished it; then enlarged through the sixteenth century by three generations — Alfonso I, his son Giovanni II and his grandson Alfonso II.

The tower's date is approximate and the sources differ by two years. This castle's own record gives circa 1490; the comune's overview gives perhaps 1492. Both are estimates for an undated piece of building, and the page gives the earlier with the later named rather than choosing one silently.

The outer circuit was a long job and it was never really finished. Begun in the second or third decade of the sixteenth century, completed only in the last years of Del Carretto rule, before 1558 — and then redundant, because Genoa took the marquisate that year.

The Spanish built outwards rather than upwards. Their main intervention was not on the castle at all but below it: Castel San Giovanni in 1643, holding the slope. The last significant work, Gaspare Beretta's in 1674, was subtraction — removing rock so the enemy could not use it.

Can I go in?

Yes, but only with a guide and only if you book. The Museo Archeologico del Finale, which runs the visits under its MUDIF programme, states that the castle is accessible exclusively with a guided visit and that booking is compulsory on 019 690 020; it publishes dates as an events calendar rather than as opening hours. The Comune di Finale Ligure, which has owned the castle since 1989, publishes nothing for it at all. A first phase of works made the ruins accessible and put a lift in the Torre dei Diamanti.

Is it Gavone or Govone?

Both, and the question is real. Both forms appear in fourteenth-century documents, and Govone seems to prevail until the end of Spanish rule, written castillo Govon. Gavone is the name used over the last two centuries and the one the comune uses; the older form is coming back. The origin is uncertain and may record old links with Piedmont.

Why was it blown up?

Because Genoa bought the marquisate in 1713 and did not want the castle standing. Genoese sappers demolished it in 1715; it had already been part-demolished by Genoa in 1448, and rebuilt by Giovanni I Del Carretto between 1451 and 1452. A study of the 1715 demolition is titled Uno scempio inutile pagato caro.

Why is the tower that shape?

To survive gunfire. The Torre dei Diamanti is keeled like a ship's hull and faced in diamond-point rustication, and it terminates a triangular block added about 1490 specifically to defend the castle from artillery attacking up the slope from the sea. The design seems to follow Francesco di Giorgio Martini.

How do I get up there?

On foot, from the frazione of Perti, to the Becchignolo spur above Finalborgo. No parking scheme, shuttle, path grade or walking time is published by the comune or by any other source read for this page.

What else is up there?

Castel San Giovanni, below the castle, built in 1643 under Spanish rule to stop enemy guns being set up on the slope and to control Finalborgo. On the north side of Castel Gavone itself the hillside is missing: Gaspare Beretta had the rock spur cut away in 1674.