The Torre Cabrera, also known as Torre Mazzarelli, Torre della Dogana or Torre di Gaddimeli, is a 16th-century

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specific ...

Marina di Ragusa Marina di Ragusa, also known as ''Mazzarelli'', is a southern Italian village and hamlet (''frazione'') of Ragusa, a municipality seat of the homonym province, Sicily. In 2011 it had a population of 3,468, which during the summer rises to more t ...

, a ''frazione'' of Ragusa,

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

History

In the 16th century, various

Viceroys of Sicily This is a list of viceroys of Sicily: Aragonese direct rule 1409–1516 * John of Aragon, Duke of Peñafiel, later king John II of Aragon, 1458–1479, acted 1409–1416. * Domingo Ram y Lanaja, Bishop of Lleida 1416–1419 * Antonio de Cardon ...

began to build a series of coastal

watchtower A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...

s around Sicily's coastline in order to protect the island from Ottoman or Barbary raids. In 1584, the Florentine architect

Camillo Camilliani Camillo Camilliani (fl. 1574–1603) was an Italian architect, military engineer and sculptor. He is mostly known for the design of watchtowers and other fortifications around the coasts of Sicily. Life Camillani was born in Florence sometime i ...

published a report called ''Descrittione delle marine di tutto il regno di Sicilia con le guardie necessarie da cavallo e da piedi che vi si tengono'' about the state of Sicily's coastline. In this report, he mentioned that at Marina there was a small ''tonnara'' with warehouses. He did not believe that constructing a tower in the area was necessary, since its shallow waters and swamp acted as natural barriers preventing corsairs from landing there. The tower was eventually built sometime between 1584 and 1596, at the expense of Don Ludovico or Luigi Enriquez-Cabrera, Count of Modica. It was built in the same style as the towers designed by Camillani, perhaps in deference to the parliamentary decision of 9 April 1579 that was providing ten thousand scudi to repair the existing towers and build others, at the request of the Viceroy Don Marcantonio Colonna. The tower, which was smaller than the tower of the same name in Pozzallo, was garrisoned by a few soldiers and was equipped with six cannons. On 14 June 1606, Barbary pirates attacked three Sicilian ships near the island of Porri. Three days later, these pirates disguised themselves as Christians and landed at Marina, attacking a ship docked in the harbour. They also took the warden of the Torre Cabrera as a prisoner.

References

{{reflist Cabrera Buildings and structures in the Province of Ragusa Ragusa, Sicily Towers completed in the 16th century