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Origin and history

The Genoese tower of Nonza, also called Torra paolina, was built in the 15th or 16th century on the remains of a medieval castle of the Avogari lords, destroyed in 1489 by the Genoese. It dominates the sea from the top of the Monte, a schistose cliff of 167 meters, and takes over the architectural model of the Genoese towers: three floors, a guardiola (watch post), and a crenellated terrace with scald. His role was to monitor the Gulf of Saint-Florent and protect the village from barbaric raids, frequent after the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

In 1760 Pascal Paoli, a major figure of Corsican independence, ordered his reconstruction into a strategic post during the revolt against Genoa. The tower was the scene of a legendary episode in 1764, when soldier Jacques Casella, wounded and isolated, simulated a fierce resistance by operating several weapons at a distance, thus deceiving the French troops of Captain de Grandmaison. This scheme earned him a surrender with military honours, illustrating the symbolic importance of the site.

The tower is surrounded by remains of walls forming a rudimentary bastion, and its structure has a vault arched cloister. It was listed in the Historical Monuments on July 5, 1926, recognizing its role in Corsica's military and political history. Its location, on the old Nonza piève, also made it a point of control of the maritime trade between Cap Corse and the Agriates, region where the Nonzais cultivated part of their cereals.

Beyond its defensive use, the tower embodies tensions between Genoa, local lords (such as the Avogari-Gentile) and Corsican communities. Its position overlooking a range of black pebbles, formed by the discharges of an old asbestos quarry, also recalls the adaptation of Corsicans to a hostile environment, between steep cliffs and sea raids. Today, it remains a symbol of island resistance, attracting visitors for its panorama and its turbulent history.

The materials used, such as the grey-green shale, fit perfectly into the mineral landscape of Nonza, a perched village where dark houses fit the contours of the cliff. The Paoline Tower, although less well known than other Genoese buildings in Corsica, illustrates the defensive ingenuity of the period and the mixture of ligural and corse influences in military architecture.

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