Torre del Coltellazzo
| Torre del Coltellazzo | ||
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 North-east side of the Torre del Coltellazzo |
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| Alternative name (s): | Torre di Sant'Efisio | |
| Creation time : | 1607 | |
| Conservation status: | essential parts received | |
| Construction: | Sandstone - masonry | |
| Place: | Nora , Pula | |
| Geographical location | 38 ° 59 '3.1 " N , 9 ° 1' 12.8" E | |
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Torre del Coltellazzo , also known as Torre di Cortellazzo or Torre di Sant'Efisio , is a guard and defense tower from the 16th century on the south coast of the Italian island of Sardinia . It belongs to a system of 102 so-called Saracen towers that were supposed to protect Sardinia from pirate attacks from the barbarian states . The Torre del Coltellazzo is located in the municipality of Pula on the Costa del Sud .
location
The Torre del Coltellazzo stands on a hill of the eastern promontory Punta del Coltellazzo of the Capo di Pula ("Cape of Pula"). The cape on the west coast of the Gulf of Cagliari is dominated by the archaeological site of the ancient city of Nora . Within sight of the tower, three more towers to monitor the coast, the Torri di Cala D'Ostia, San Macario and del Diavolo , were built. The place Pula, from which the cape got its name, is located about three kilometers northwest of the Torre del Coltellazzo a little off the coast on the Riu Pula , a small river that flows into the Mediterranean Sea on Foxi Durci beach opposite the island of San Macario with its tower .
History and description
The hill on which the Torre del Coltellazzo stands formed the acropolis of Nora in ancient times, one after a pre-colonial phase since the 9th century BC. BC, from which the " Stele of Nora " comes, middle of the 7th century BC. Phoenician settlement founded in BC . It existed as an inhabited coastal town with its three ports from the Punic and Roman times until the middle of the 5th century AD. The ruins of the city can be visited in guided groups.
The Torre del Coltellazzo was built around the turn of the 16th to the 17th century and was used from 1607. The Kingdom of Sardinia made at that time one of a viceroy managed by-country the Spanish crown under Philip II. After the Conquest of Tunis by his father Charles I (1535) and the unsuccessful naval expedition to Algiers (1541) it was decided the coasts of Sardinia against the to secure constant pirate attacks from the barbarian states from the sea with towers.
Like the Torre di Chia , located 15 kilometers southwest, the Torre del Coltellazzo was built on a rocky promontory and was of the so-called torre de armas type , a tower permanently equipped with cannons. In addition to the commander (Alcaide) and an artilleryman , four soldiers belonged to the garrison in the 18th century. From 1722 to 1728, according to plans by the Piedmontese engineer Antonio Felice de Vincenti , the tower was surrounded by a fortress wall, including two guard houses (garitte) that protected the entrance. Since the 19th century there have been numerous renovations in which all entrances were converted into windows or closed, a reinforced concrete floor was drawn in in the attic and a lighthouse was built on top of it.
The restored conical round building of the Torre del Coltellazzo is 11 meters high and has a diameter of 12 meters on the small vertical parapet. The walls, made of rectangular sandstone blocks , are 2 meters thick. The foundation walls rest on the remains of ancient buildings from the Acropolis of Nora. Today the tower can be entered via a curved metal staircase along the outer wall to the entrance 6 meters above the ground on the northwest side. The access leads to the first floor, which has a domed vault with a central pillar. From there a stone staircase runs to the upper floor, from which one can reach the platform via a staircase. The platform is blocked for visitors.
- Views of the fortress
Fortress entrance
Interior of the fortress
Sentry box
Window in the tower
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Pula, Torre del Coltellazzo. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, 2017, accessed October 26, 2017 (Italian).
- ^ Hans-Georg Niemeyer , Piero Meloni: Nora. [1] In: The new Pauly (DNP). Volume 8, Metzler, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-476-01472-X , Sp. 999.
- ↑ a b c d Mauro Salis: Pula and surroundings . Patrimonio culturale Sardegna, Cagliari 2011, p. 41 .
- ↑ Francesco Cesare Casula: The History of Sardinia . Carlo Delfino editore, Sassari 2000, ISBN 978-88-7138-325-5 , p. 38 .
Web links
- Torre del Coltellazzo. Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo, 2017, accessed on October 26, 2017 (Italian).
- Torre del Coltellazzo. monumentiaperti.com, accessed October 26, 2017 (Italian).