Historical continuities and physical discontinuities among fortified elements of the Genoese coast

The Savoy Fort of San Giuliano is currently overlooking the upstream side of the Genoese seafront of Corso Italia. Built at the beginning of the nineteenth century, it originally constituted a connection with other forts (San Martino, Santa Tecla, Richelieu, and Ratti), but above all, it related to the defence structures of the Lavagna Battery (also known as San Nazaro) and the Torre dell'Amore Battery, arranged along the coast. This contribution aims to bring to light the historical and spatial connections that pre-existed the road layouts of the twentieth century. The aim is to document the destroyed material evidence and restore knowledge of this fortified complex and its urban significance. The coastal batteries located east and west of Fort of San Giuliano saw different phases in the mid-eighteenth century, probably starting from the consolidation of temporary posts. The area adjacent to the Fort was also originally occupied by a battery, but the construction of the fortified structure began in 1818, with a project that initially involved the transformation of Villa Sopranis, the traces of which are currently complex to identify. The site is continuously adapted and now is the base of the Carabinieri of Genoa Provincial Command. The Fort was partially surrounded by a moat and included two stations, of which the northern one was the access, with the drawbridge still preserved. During the twentieth-century tracing of the Corso Italia waterfront, partial destruction was recorded, and the coastal batteries were isolated, breaking that significant defensive and structural continuity. Human intervention has led to the urbanization of the Genoese coastal landscape, transforming it from a predominantly natural environment, dotted only with fortifications and isolated villas, into a complex system consisting of residences, road infrastructures, and bathing establishments. Within this new context, the surviving historical fragments are inserted, which require adequate interpretative tools to be understood.