This is the first tower the visitor would come across going towards the North, immediately after the border with the Garrison State ( Stato dei Presidi). It is four miles from Talamone and it was part of Talamone Garrison ( Presidio di Talamone); the coastal defences of this state were in fact divided into garrisons (presidi). It has the typical typology of 1500, which is to say with a squared plan surmounted by a ridge, and external stairs with a drawbridge: it was surrounded by a small courtyard enclosed by walls, like the majority of the towers built in this State. The origins of this building, although without proved documentation, have to be collocated around 1565, as many other towers were built along the coast as part of the fortified complexes of the Spanish State.
In 1573 Malavolti does not mention it in his Planification Of the Sienese State ( Pianta dello Stato Senese); this must not be considered probative as there are many other gaps and the same omission occurred in other later maps.
The building is instead shown in a plan of the Tuscan coast, in a plan of the Sienese State, in a map of the coast of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and in many other maps.
In a report dated the 1st of October 1739, presented to The Court of Naples ( Regia Corte of Napoli) by Mariscal de Carlos Blom, regarding a visit of the one hundred and five Garrisons (Presidi) of Tuscany, there are news about all the fortifications: signed by the engineer Juan Manti, it reports that the tower needed two pieces of artillery, as it was situated on the border, and that needed to be restored due to its bad conditions.
These works did probably not occur as a new request for the restoration of the tower was advanced on the 29th of April 1783 by the military engineer Gio Castelnuovo Landini. According to the description, the tower was now in a terrible state: from the ridge downwards, the surface had to be repaired while in the upper part it had to be rebuilt. It was also necessary to rebuild the superior vault with a covering layer of earthenware and a parapet for the terrace at the constant height of a hundred spans. There was no stairs to go to the first floor, which were later built in wood like the entrance door. On the list of the restoration work there was also a reference to the plaster of the cistern and the internal walls of the tower: the wall of the enclosure had also to be repaired. The restoration costs were approved the following year, exactly on the 24th of February 1781.
In a map of 1700, the tower, which was extremely huge, was represented in different sections: from them one can see the two rooms towards the internal part of which the superior one was divided by a wooden ceiling.
In 1806, after the inaction of the Presidi State ( Stato dei Presidi) to the Kingdom of Etruria ( Regno d’Etruria), a census was carried out regarding all the towers and ports which had belonged to the Spanish; in the same report, the superior vault of the tower is reported not suitable to support the battery. It also points out the lack of lodgings for the garrison and the necessity of creating a half-moon to better defend the part of the building facing the sea. The work requested was never carried out.
The building, which we have known in its current bad condition of preservation, has been turned into civil dwelling-place by changing the old structures and adding new ones.
In Leopold’s Land Register ( Catasto Leopoldino), the tower is the property of The Imperial and Royal Fabbriche ( Imperiali e Regie Fabbriche) and is indicated as the circle tower of around one hundred and sixty squared ells ( in the original Italian “ torre a chiostra di braccia quadre 160” ).
The cadastral map was drawn up by the land-surveyor Luigi Baglini in 1824; the corresponding heading is n. 22 10.
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