Forte di Santa Tecla

Forte di Santa Tecla is an eighteenth-century fortress near Sanremo’s old port, with a triangular plan and corner bastions. Its thick, sloping walls create a clear military silhouette. The Republic of Genoa built it between 1755 and 1756 after Sanremo’s 1753 uprising. Genoa intended it mainly to control Sanremo’s local population. Giacomo De Sicre and Alberto Medoni designed the fortress, while thirteen Pian di Nava houses made room for it. Torre della Marina survived and became part of the structure. Builders also used stone from Castello della Pigna, while ships brought materials from Civitavecchia. Three floors contained quarters, stores, a chapel, cistern, powder magazine, and artillery batteries.

During Napoleonic rule, its artillery supported coastal defence, and after 1815 the building became a barracks. It became a judicial prison after Italian unification, in 1864. That role lasted until 1997, when a new facility opened in Valle Armea. Restoration work at the fortress began in 2013. The regional museum authority received the site in March 2016, after restoration prepared it for cultural use. Restored ground-floor spaces host exhibitions and cultural events. A glass-and-steel roof shelters the inner courtyard while leaving the sky visible above. Former prison cells remain, beside a walkway offering a 360-degree view of Sanremo.