Genoese Tower of La Parata in Ajaccio

Genoese Towers of the 16th Century

The Parata Tower - Defense Tower - is located on the point of the same name, a peninsula on the Ajaccian coast founded in 1550 by the Genoese architect Giacomo Lombardo. It has remained in very good condition, making it one of the most emblematic Genoese towers on the island, and it had a sister tower built on the Sanguinaires Islands 40 years later. To distinguish them, they were called Sanguinara di terra and Sanguinara di Mare or Sanguinera di Fuori. This second one was destroyed in the 19th century in favor of the current lighthouse.

The Castelluccio Tower

Genoese documents mention a third, smaller square tower A Piccola Torretta, six meters high, called the Castelluccio Tower on the islet of Mezu Mare not far from the semaphore.

Characteristics of the Parata Tower

The Parata Tower takes advantage of a semi-rocky promontory to rise about sixty meters above the sea, accessible by a steep staircase. It has arrow slits, machicolations, a terrace surrounded by battlements, and is about 10 meters in diameter at its base, with a height of about twenty meters.

The interior of the tower is divided into three levels composed of bedrooms, a living room, and several observation posts towards the sea and communication posts towards the land.

The tower once housed 3 torregiani distributed in 2 bedrooms, while its sister sea tower housed 5. Its construction responded to a need for security related to the Barbary raids that terrorized the coastal villages of the island, as in the cape, cf: Albo Tower.