Tour de la Parata

Tour de la Parata
Coordinates	41°53′43″N 8°36′30″E / 41.89528°N 8.60833°ECoordinates: 41°53′43″N 8°36′30″E / 41.89528°N 8.60833°E
Built	1550-1551
Architect	Giacomo Lombardo
Location of Tour de la Parata in Corsica

The Tour de la Parata (Corsican: Torra di a Parata) is a ruined Genoese tower located in the commune of Ajaccio (Corse-du-Sud) on the west coast of the French island of Corsica. The tower sits at an elevation of 55 m (180 ft) on a rocky promontory, the Pointe de la Parata, to the north-east of the Îles Sanguinaires archipelago.

The tower was built in 1550-1551 by Giacomo Lombardo. It was one of a series of coastal defences constructed by the Republic of Genoa between 1530 and 1620 to stem the attacks by Barbary pirates.^[1] The tower is 12 m (39 ft) in height and has a diameter of 7.3 m (24 ft) at the level of the roof platform. It contains two vaulted rooms, one above the other.^[2]

In the surviving Genoese documents the tower is called the Sanguinera di Terra. A similar tower which once sat on the highest point of the Grande Sanguinaire island was called the Sanguinera di Fuori or the Sanguinera di Mare.^[3] The Grande Sanguinaire tower was demolished in the 19th century when the existing lighthouse was constructed.^[4] A second small tower at the south-west end of the Grande Sanguinaire island has survived. In a Genoese document it is referred to as the torretta piccola (little tower). It is now called the Tour de Castelluccio.^[5]

Gallery

• 

  Section though the tower

• 

  Plan of the lower floor

• 

  Tower and the Îles Sanguinaires

References

1. Graziani 2000, p. 107.
2. Fréminville 1894, pp. 50-51.
3. Graziani 1992, pp. 84, 135.
4. Cubells 2007, p. 73.
5. Graziani 1992, p. 85.

Sources

• Cubells, Jean-François; et al. (2007). Un site, des monuments La Parata et Les Sanguinaires: Pour une étude pluridisciplinaire du patrimoine historique et naturel de la Corse (PDF). La Ville d’Ajaccio et le Conseil Général de la Corse-du-Sud. ISBN 978-286-620-201-9.
• Fréminville, Joseph de (1894). "Tours génoises du littoral de la Corse". Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques (in French): 47–57. The article was also published separately: Fréminville, Joseph de (1894). Tours génoises du littoral de la Corse (PDF) (in French). Paris. OCLC 494605587.
• Graziani, Antoine-Marie (1992). Les Tours Littorales (in French and Italian). Ajaccio, France: Alain Piazzola. ISBN 2-907161-06-7.
• Graziani, Antoine-Marie (2000). "Les ouvrages de défense en Corse contre les Turcs (1530-1650)". In Vergé-Franceschi, Michel; Graziani, Antoine-Marie. La guerre de course en Méditerranée (1515-1830) (in French). Paris: Presses de l'Université Paris IV-Sorbonne. ISBN 2-84050-167-8.

External links

• Nivaggioni, Mathieu; Verges, Jean-Marie. "Les Tours Génoises Corses" (in French). Includes information on how to reach 90 towers and many photographs.
• "Parata : Présentation" (in French). I Torregiani. Retrieved 18 May 2014.