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From the beginning of the 16th century, the barbarian incursions, which initially affected the shores of Corsica, increased with attacks on the villages located inland. The establishment of a defence strategy for the island's coastline became a necessity. From 1530 onwards, coastal towers were erected to monitor, protect and warn the population, a phenomenon that continued until 1620 with the construction of almost 100 towers under the control of the Republic of Genoa.

From the beginning of the 16th century, the barbarian incursions, which initially affected the shores of Corsica, increased with attacks on the villages located inland. The establishment of a defence strategy for the island's coastline became a necessity. Coastal towers were erected from 1530 onwards, with the task of monitoring, protecting and warning the population. This phenomenon continued until 1620 with the construction of almost 100 towers, under the control of the Republic of Genoa. Within the territory, these buildings naturally reflected a symbol of defence for the local populations, along with the additional roles of customs, navigational guides, sanitary stations, public tax agents or even a place to collect various duties. To finance this construction programme, the Genoese administration decided to increase the salt tax. This additional revenue made it possible to advance the money needed by the village communities to build these towers. In addition to its strictly defensive role, this programme also sought to guarantee the Republic a certain control over the island colony and to increase its economic profitability with its policy of agricultural development. Thus, in order to counter the desertification of the fertile coastal plains, the Republic granted land concessions to private individuals (Genoese or Corsican businessmen), who undertook to cultivate these territories and to build towers to protect them. The construction of a series of towers, networked along the whole of a maritime façade, was not limited to Corsica. Indeed, the combined pressure of Ottoman expansion, Barbary piracy and the complicity of Francis I, concerned all the Christian territories in the Mediterranean. Since the capture of Constantinople on 29 May 1453, the Turks had created a permanent climate of alert that terrorised the populations along the Italian, French and Spanish coasts. The pirates multiplied, with impunity and unpredictability, incessant incursions and violent attacks on land. The only way to deal with this harassment war is to ensure continuous and permanent defence of the coastline. While such a policy was gradually being organised along the Italian coast, Charles V took part in the elaboration of a major project for the intensive militarisation of the Sicilian coast from 1535. The strategy was based on the modernisation of port fortifications and the construction of an efficient system of signal towers. This ambitious plan was extended to other island territories such as Sardinia, Malta and Corsica. From the 18th century onwards, the towers were abandoned due to their military obsolescence. However, some of them were used during the Paolist wars, between 1760 and 1768, or during the English intervention of 1794. An inventory drawn up in the middle of the 19th century shows that only 67 of them are still standing, assigned to the Ponts et Chaussées by imperial decree. The Heritage Department of the Collectivité de Corse, owner of 12 towers protected as Historic Monuments, wishes to restore this heritage by restoring and enhancing it in order to preserve the network of these sentinels. The first two towers in this ambitious programme are the Miomu Tower in Santa-Maria-di-Lota and the Albu Tower in Ogliastru.

Corse

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Type Itinéraire : roaming

Thème : History