Saracen tower
Saracen towers are small, mostly round, fortified signal towers that the Genoese and Pisans erected on all the coasts of the islands during their rule over Corsica and Sardinia . They are about 12 to 17 m high and 8 to 10 m thick at the base.
The square Saracen towers (in Pino , Porto , Morsiglia and Nonza in Corsica) date from the time of the Pisan occupation of the island. 22 round Genoese towers were built on the east, 32 on the west and 5 on the south coast, 20 on Cap Corse , 12 in the Gulf of St. Florent. 67 of them have been preserved. Its permanent crew consisted of four people.
In Sardinia , the Spaniards later built around 70 such towers against pirate attacks. The towers were also erected on Elba , Malta , Sicily and mainland Italy. The massive, sometimes round, sometimes square towers shape the coast of Italy .
The North African Saracens appeared in the 9th century, but especially between the 14th and 16th centuries (the crusades brought relief to the northern Italian population here for several centuries) with their ships on the Christian Mediterranean shores, plundered and destroyed the coastal towns, killed them Population or dragged them off to the slave markets and penetrated into the interior of the country. The towers were in visual contact with each other, telegraphs were made with cannon shots or fire signals.
- Saracen towers
Pisan Tower of Orosei
Saracen tower in La Caletta (Sardinia)
Torre delle Saline south of Muravera (Sardinia)
Saracen tower in Giglio Campese (Tuscany)
Saracen towers built by other states or maritime republics can be found along the Riviera and in Piedmont. In Santo Stefano al Mare there is the only octagonal Saracen tower on the Riviera. The Saracen Towers in the interior of Piedmont served as protective castles for the population. After entire areas of Piedmont had been depopulated by Muslims, Humbert Weisshand issued a decree according to which anyone who built a protective tower could receive all the land visible from this tower as a fief.
Today, all of the Corsican and many of the Italian towers are listed as historical monuments.