Savona, Italy

Savona is quietly elegant, in an old-fashioned sort of way. In some ways, it is like a miniature. Genoa, with the contrast between the graceful newer part and the old town, behind the port, with its maze of narrow alleyways. In other ways, it more resembles a miniature Turin, with colonnaded streets and grid-like road system. But it lacks the spaciousness and verve of both Genoa and Turin, feeling more closed-in and less airily bright, and seems firmly set in older, more stately times. There aer some very ornately decorated buildings, one or two over-exaggeratedly so and some quietly refined piazzas but there's a strong sense that the true Savona does not reveal itself easily and that more than a casual glance is needed to get under the skin of this oddly intriguing, small city.