A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Coastal towers: project of conservation and development of the “Saracen tower” in Arenzano (Genoa)
During the XVIth, several coastal towers were built in strategic points along the Ligurian coastline to defend it against Turkish-barbaric incursions1. These areas were continuously attacked and often unprepared villages were ransacked and razed to the ground. One of the major problems for the Republic of Genoa was citizens being abducted, enslaved, and sold, which reduced the amount of taxes the central government was able to collect. In order to combat this dangerous phenomenon, around the second half of the XVIth century, the villages that did not have an efficient defence system yet, were urged by the Republic to build one as soon as possible. The defensive system was based on being able to spot enemy ships in time, quickly spreading the alarm along the coast, in order to save people and goods before the enemy ships reached the shore. Today these defensive towers, built to spot and communicate threats, together with bastions and castles, built to fight the enemy and protect the population, constitute a rich historical and architectural heritage to be reclaimed and valued. The Republic assigned the task of building and organising the fortification system to officials or military captains, who recruited the workforce and managed the work and the contracts with builders. The defensive structures were built with different shapes and characteristics, according to their location and use: bastions and towers had a square, circular, or polygonal plan with scarp walls or other structural features, depending on whether they were defensive, sighting, or signalling towers. Defensive towers, located along the coast, were used to resist the enemy while watchtowers were built on mountains or headlands to spot the enemy and signal the threat to the village and to the other instalments in sight. At the end of the sixteenth century, the defence network in Liguria was constituted by many fortified structures, working as an incredible deterrent for enemies coming from the sea. In western Liguria, near Genoa, there were several ...
Coastal towers: project of conservation and development of the “Saracen tower” in Arenzano (Genoa)
During the XVIth, several coastal towers were built in strategic points along the Ligurian coastline to defend it against Turkish-barbaric incursions1. These areas were continuously attacked and often unprepared villages were ransacked and razed to the ground. One of the major problems for the Republic of Genoa was citizens being abducted, enslaved, and sold, which reduced the amount of taxes the central government was able to collect. In order to combat this dangerous phenomenon, around the second half of the XVIth century, the villages that did not have an efficient defence system yet, were urged by the Republic to build one as soon as possible. The defensive system was based on being able to spot enemy ships in time, quickly spreading the alarm along the coast, in order to save people and goods before the enemy ships reached the shore. Today these defensive towers, built to spot and communicate threats, together with bastions and castles, built to fight the enemy and protect the population, constitute a rich historical and architectural heritage to be reclaimed and valued. The Republic assigned the task of building and organising the fortification system to officials or military captains, who recruited the workforce and managed the work and the contracts with builders. The defensive structures were built with different shapes and characteristics, according to their location and use: bastions and towers had a square, circular, or polygonal plan with scarp walls or other structural features, depending on whether they were defensive, sighting, or signalling towers. Defensive towers, located along the coast, were used to resist the enemy while watchtowers were built on mountains or headlands to spot the enemy and signal the threat to the village and to the other instalments in sight. At the end of the sixteenth century, the defence network in Liguria was constituted by many fortified structures, working as an incredible deterrent for enemies coming from the sea. In western Liguria, near Genoa, there were several ...
Coastal towers: project of conservation and development of the “Saracen tower” in Arenzano (Genoa)
Rita Vecchiattini (author) / Arianna Calcagno (author) / Daniela Pittaluga, Fabio Fratini (ed. by) / Vecchiattini, Rita / Calcagno, Arianna
2019-01-01
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
DDC:
720
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