The Tower of Spanu ( co, Torra di Spanu) is a ruined Genoese tower located in the commune of

Lumio Lumio (; co, Lumiu) is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica. Population See also *Communes of the Haute-Corse department The following is a list of the 236 communes of the Haute-Corse department ...

on the west coast of the

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

. It sits on the Punta Spano headland at a height of above the sea. Only the lower portion of the tower survives. The tower was one of a series of coastal defences constructed by the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Lat ...

between 1530 and 1620 to stem the attacks by

Barbary pirates The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...

. The

Conservatoire du littoral The ''Conservatoire du littoral'' ("Coastal protection agency") (official name: ''Conservatoire de l'espace littoral et des rivages lacustres'') is a French public organisation created in 1975 to ensure the protection of outstanding natural areas on ...

, a French government agency responsible for the protection of outstanding natural areas on the coast, has announced that it intends to purchase the Punta Spano headland. As of 2017 it had acquired .

References

Towers in Corsica {{Corsica-struct-stub