Torre Petrosa in Villammare

Dominating the seaside village of Villammare is Torre Petrosa, built in 1595 as part of the coastal defence system ordered by the Spanish viceroys of Naples against raids by Turkish and Saracen pirates. It has a square plan and was once manned by a tower keeper with guards, men-at-arms and oarsmen.We like retracing its many lives: once the pirate threat was over it served as a sanitary cordon during the plague of 1656, then hid weapons and Cilento conspirators of the 1828 uprisings, and was a military post in the Second World War. Today it is privately owned and can be admired from the outside.