The coastal towers of Sardinia are placed in panoramic or strategic locations. Born for military purposes, today they are an essential element of many of our coastal landscapes.

Today the sea is often identified as one of the elements characterizing Sardinia, in positive terms. Hundreds of beaches make this island one of the most popular destinations in terms of tourism. Yet it wasn’t always like this.
For many centuries the sea meant wars and dangers for Sardinia. The towers built in an era that goes from the independent judicial kingdoms (until 1409) and later from the Spaniards testify to another reality. An enemy sea, infested by pirates coming from Algeria and Tunisia, which it was necessary to guard in a constant and capillary way with armed towers.

How many coastal towers are there in Sardinia? Where are? They are all the same?

The complete census  reveals that there are more than 100 coastal towers. About half of these are in excellent condition. Given their number, they are a characteristic element of the Sardinian coastal landscape, if we like the Nuraghe for the interior. The only area that does not have one is Gallura between Santa Teresa and Siniscola.

The towers are located on the coast, often in a dominant position. They had to have an excellent view of the coast also because, being often armed with cannons, they were the first active defense system in case of attack.

The towers are not all the same, but can be divided into three types. That of heavy defense, which could have up to 4 large-caliber guns and up to 14 meters high, those of light defense with up to 2 medium-sized guns and up to 10 meters high and those of sighting, manned only by a few soldiers up to 7 meters high.
A common element to all the towers is the lack of an entrance door. The tower is accessed from an access located about 5 meters high with a ladder which was then withdrawn from the inside.

Which coastal towers are worth visiting in Sardinia?

All the coastal towers are located in a panoramic position. Some of them are located in the immediate vicinity of beautiful beaches. We offer you three, among the largest and best preserved.The tower of Santa Caterina di Pittinuri is located on the suggestive cliff overlooking the seaside village. As often happens, it is in visual contact with the other towers in the area, such as Scab’e Sai and Su Puttu. It is characteristic both because it is among the very few with a truncated/conical base and because it is located on a promontory of very white rock, almost dazzling in summer  which makes it an evocative shot even for less expert photographers. It is located fifty meters from our Felix Hotel La Baja.

The Longonsardo tower is one of the largest and perhaps the best preserved of all the coastal towers of Sardinia. Symbol of Santa Teresa Gallura, this large coastal tower almost twenty meters wide at the base and eleven meters high (but being overlooking the small sea it actually has an effective height of forty) had a goal. To be seen from afar. Armed with heavy cannons, with a permanent garrison, it remained active for military purposes until the Second World War when it housed a parachute unit.
It is located 15 minutes from our Felix Hotels La Coluccia

The Torre di Barì does not have the imposing dimensions of that of Longonsardo, nor the spectacular cliff of that of Santa Caterina di Pittinuri, but from an environmental point of view it is certainly among the most beautiful of the entire complex of coastal towers in Sardinia . In fact, it divides the beautiful beach of Bari Sardo into two parts, the well-known beaches of Mari de is hominis and Mari de is feminas, a legacy of a past in which customs were evidently very different from today. Built with local basalt, although not very high (thirteen meters) it was basically used as a lookout, managing to cover a view, thanks to the regularity of the coast, of over fifteen kilometres. It is 10 minutes walk from our Felix Hotels Galanias.

We hope we have been able to give you some useful information on the coastal towers of Sardinia and on this little-known, yet extremely evident part of the history of our island. Towers witnesses of a tormented past but of a peaceful present which indeed has assumed them as “testimonials” of our land.

As for us, we await you in our Felix Hotels, just a few steps away from them.