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A tower which was built on the acropolis of the Punic-Roman settlement of Bithia, with a height of about 13 meters and a diameter of more than 10 metres, in order to defend the mouth of the Rio di Chia river.

The Torre di Chia was built on the acropolis of the Punic-Roman town of Bithia. It mainly watched over the area to the south, towards Chia beach, which was ideal for water supplies. It monitored an area that was very vulnerable to pirate landings due to the presence of numerous beaches. However it is not possible to see the other coastal towers from the tower, so the administration had set up two lookout posts and message transmission posts at the points called Guardia Grande to the north-east and Las Cannas on Capo Spartivento to the south-west. The tower was built at the behest of Viceroy De Moncada in 1578, with the task of defending the mouth of the Rio di Chia river, which was a water supply point for the pirates, contrary to the judgement of Captain Camos (1572). In 1592 the tower was called ‘I Santi de Quaranta de Quia’, perhaps due to the presence of an early medieval church dedicated to the forty martyrs of Sebaste. Prior to the construction of the bulwark in 1572, the area was also known as ‘la guardia maestra; (the master guard). The tower was operational as early as 1594. It was a "torre de armas” (weapons tower), always equipped with 6 and 8 pound calibre cannons and a garrison of five people, plus two more for each of the two "guardie morte" ("dead guards” - mobile lookout posts, without a tower). The tower has a height of about 13 metres and a diameter of over 10 meters. It has a very pronounced base plinth and inside the first floor the vault is supported by a massive central column. The structure could not hold more than 5 men; in fact, the men at the lookouts of Las Cannas and Capo Spartivento, who sheltered in the tower at night, were forced to sleep out on the terrace under the mezzaluna ("half moon"). This was a canopy of reeds and tiles above the open-air terrace, so called because of its semicircular shape. The entrance opened about 5 metres above the ground facing towards the north. The wall thickness is about 2.5 metres, inside of which is the staircase leading to the terrace, built of stone steps and originally covered with juniper boards. Like the towers of San Macario and Coltellazzo, the outer walls are distinguished by well-squared sandstone ashlars from the ancient city of Bithia and rounded pebbles. The first restorations were recorded in 1605. In 1614, when Leonardo Lucio Obino was the "Alcaide" (tower commander), the tower went up in flames, which was probably caused by Barbary pirates who attacked the battlements. In the parade ground there are traces of three gunports and two wooden sentry boxes, which were mentioned as early as 1767. In the Savoy period the garrison went down to three ‘torrieri’ (tower wardens) plus the gunner and the Alcaide. During these years, the tower was still of great importance and its presence facilitated the establishment of the town of Domus de Maria in the 18th century. After it was decommissioned, following the end of the Administration of the Towers, the Chia Tower was used by the Guardia di Finanza to combat smuggling up until the 1950s. In 1988 and in the early 1990s, it underwent extensive restoration.

Domus De Maria

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