The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption was built in the 16th century and consecrated in 1605 to replace the ancient building dating back to the early 9th century and destroyed following Andrea Doria’s occupation of the city in 1528 and the construction of the Genoese fortress on the Priamar promontory: this is where the oldest nucleus of the city of Savona developed.

The monument now stands on the site occupied by the 13th-century Church of St. Francis that was demolished to allow for the construction of the new Cathedral and valuable artistic works are preserved inside, some of them from the ancient cathedral.

The nave brings attention to the luminous frescoed basin and the solemn high altar the work of Pasquale Boccardo: the two eagles supporting the city’s insignia currently placed on either side of the altar remain from the original one. The tabernacle in the form of a small temple is the work of Jesuit Orazio Grassi of 1636, who took as a model, enriching it, that of the Church of the Gesù in Rome. At the back above the chancel towers the grandiose organ by the Genoese Filippo Piccaluga commissioned by Francesco della Rovere in 1766. In the last century a new organ by the Mascioni firm with electric transmission was placed in the Piccaluga’s case, whose facade pipes were reused. The path through the three-aisled temple is wide-ranging, punctuated by the side altars enriched by numerous works, both pictorial and sculptural. On the side altar of St. Sixtus is the altarpiece of the Madonna Enthroned with Child between Saints Peter and Paul from the 16th century attributed to the Master of the Visitation from Wiesbaden. The white marble Renaissance pulpit with hexagonal case was created for the ancient cathedral. The figurative parts are by Antonio Maria Aprile, while the setting of the whole and the ornaments are by Giovanni Angelo Molinari. The base consists of a triangular block bearing three winged sirens at the corners. On the shaft four putti support an elaborate capital, and at the top the case alternates in the panels between the Evangelists and the preaching of St. Paul. Overall, amid putti and high-relief panels, the perspective view of a fine chalice is grasped.

Of great value near the entrance is the large 15th-century marble cross. Its peculiarity is that it is carved on both sides of a single block of marble. On the front is Christ Crucified and on the opposite side is the Madonna and Child almost in the round. The thickness of the monolith is adorned with a motif of flowers and leaves and on top of the cross by the shell symbol of St. James.