They cover an area of 400 km², with 130,978 inhabitants, of whom 699 are non-Catholic. They comprise 65 parishes and autonomous vicariates, 15 public churches not parochial, 144 public oratories, 5 shrines, 4 basilicas, 3 collegiate churches, 164 diocesan priests and 127 regular clergy; they have 1 seminary, 17 diocesan priests with 154 professed religious and 51 female religious priests with 870 professed sisters, 5 general houses of women’s institutes, of which 3 of pontifical right, 3 boys’ colleges and schools with 1,120 pupils, 5 girls’ colleges and schools with 870 pupils, 5 charitable institutes with 358 residents.
I. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE TWO DIOCESES
When the Romans consolidated their rule over Liguria, “Vada Sabatia” (“Sabata”) was the terminal station of the Via Aemilia Scauri, later extended westward by the Via Iulia Augusta. A few kilometres away, Savo was the port of the city (cf. E. Forcellini, *Lexicon totius latinitatis*, VI, Padua 1940, p. 598). As to the Christian evangelization, no particulars are known beyond what can Liguria (v.).The episcopal see of the place must have been at Vado, but it is not mentioned in early Christian sources; perhaps it was destroyed during King Rothari’s invasion of Liguria in the 7th century. Vado must have been important when Emperor Lothair refers to it in his Edict concerning schools (828). The bishop’s jurisdiction must have extended over the whole Vado territory, roughly corresponding to the present boundaries of the diocese of Savona; yet certain information is available only from the second half of the 9th century, and throughout the 10th century the bishop is styled now “of Vado,” now “of Savona.” At the beginning of the 11th century the see was definitely established in the castle of Savona, which had come into the bishops’ possession and was situated in a healthier and safer location. During the Ottonian period the bishops of Savona exercised temporal authority not only over the city but over a vast territory, and they retained it even when the power of the Del Carretto marquises became consolidated in the region; thus, under the bishops’ aegis, the people of Savona prepared the advent of the free Commune. Soon, however, a period of bitter strife began with Genoa, which claimed hegemony over all Liguria; and since Genoa was Guelph, Savona always sided with the Ghibellines. Through Genoese intervention the diocese of Noli was established in 1239, to the detriment of that of Savona. The people of Noli, enriched by overseas trade, had also formed a free Commune, but in opposition to the Savonesi they had sided with Genoa in 1202, receiving protection and privileges in return. Initially united to that of Brugnato, the see of Noli gained full autonomy by Innocent IV in 1245; to endow its table, the abbey of St Eugenius on the island of Bergeggi, founded in 992 by Bernardo, bishop of Savona, was annexed to II. The diocese of Noli was suffragan to the archbishop of Genoa, whereas that of Savona remained suffragan to Milan until 1806. As a belated compensation, Sixtus IV annexed to Savona the abbey of St Quintinus of Spigno, with an extensive fief; the last remnant of this fief, the hamlet of Lodisio, was ceded to the King of Sardinia in 1784 in exchange for an annuity and the title of prince to the bishop of Savona.
From 1809 to 1812, and again in 1814, Pius VII was confined in Savona as Napoleon’s prisoner. The apartment that housed the Pope is still preserved in the episcopal palace of Savona. In commemoration of this event, Benedict XV granted the bishops of Savona the privilege of wearing the pallium. When the political reasons for the existence of the diocese of Noli ceased, Pius VII, by a bull dated 9 October 1820, united it “aeque principaliter” to that of Savona: the Curia and the Seminary for both dioceses are now in Savona, while Noli retains the cathedral chapter.
II. BISHOPS AND DISTINGUISHED FIGURES
In the long series of Savona’s bishops, the blessed Ottaviano (1119–28), a Benedictine monk, is still the object of lively popular veneration; he sustained the Savonesi with heroic charity and inspired the first free communal institutions. After the city’s ruin, which fell into Genoese hands in 1528 and was largely destroyed, Monsignor Pietro Francesco Costa (1587–1624) rendered particularly meritorious service by building the new grand cathedral. In the last century, Monsignor Agostino M. De Mari (1833–40) left a deep mark by promoting the Savings Bank and the Society for the Encouragement of Industry, founding the civic library, and inspiring the Congregation of Evangelical Workers and three women’s religious congregations, including the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy, founded in 1837 by St Maria Giuseppa Rossello and rapidly spread in Italy and the two Americas. Rossello was later especially supported by Monsignor Ottaviano Alessandro Riccardi di Netro (1842–67), a prelate of singular intelligence and sound patriotic sentiments, whom Gioberti sent in 1848 as extraordinary ambassador to Pius IX, then in exile at Gaeta, to offer him Piedmont’s mediation. The most recent bishops, Monsignor Giuseppe Salvatore Scatti (1898–1926) and Monsignor Pasquale Righetti (1926–48), gave a resplendent example of charity and pastoral virtue in most difficult times. Among the bishops of Noli, mention should be made of Monsignor Antonio M. Arduini (1746–77), who endowed the city with a hospital and aqueduct, and Monsignor Benedetto Solari (1778–1814), whose name is linked to the events of the Synod of Pistoia and Bishop Scipione de’ Ricci. The Church gave two popes, Sixtus IV and Julius II, around whom a pleiad of cardinals, prelates, princes and captains of their family flourished. The poet Gabriello Chiabrera, dear to Urban VIII, was born and lived almost always in Savona. In the last century Savona was the scene of the charitable work of St Maria Giuseppa Rossello.III. MOST NOTABLE SHRINES AND MONUMENTS
In the Savona diocese stands the shrine of Our Lady of Mercy, whose origin is traced to the Virgin’s apparition to the peasant Antonio Botta (18 March 1536), drawing crowds of pilgrims to the venerated sanctuary, immediately subject to the Holy See, rich in works of art, flanked by hospices for pilgrims, orphans and the poor. Pius VII, while a prisoner, implored the Virgin’s intercession for his liberation and on 10 May 1815 fulfilled his vow by crowning the statue with his own hands. Pius X in 1904 granted the sanctuary the dignity of a basilica.In the cathedral-basilica of Savona is most revered the image of Our Lady of the Column, a fresco detached on 14 March 1601 from a column about to be demolished. The original cathedral of Noli preserves a miraculous Holy Face and is dedicated to the fellow citizen St Paragorius, said to have been martyred with three companions in the Theban Legion. Abandoned in 1572 because it stood in an unsafe location outside the city walls, it was replaced by the present cathedral of St Peter, which houses the relics of St Eugenius, an African bishop exiled by the Vandals and who died on the island of Bergeggi.
At Finalmarina, the remains of the ancient 5th-century parish church were recently discovered. At Finalpia, beside a