Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Genoese tower of Galeria, also called the Calcinaghja tower, was built between 1551 and 1573 by the Genoese to protect the Corsican coast from barbaric incursions. It was part of a network of four coastal towers to monitor maritime approaches and defend the surrounding valleys, including the Fango. The tower, of round shape, was accompanied by an adjoining store, both designed as military buildings armed with a hawk and defended by a tower chief and two soldiers. These buildings were under the jurisdiction of Calvi and Camera, a Genoese institution.

In 1792 an explosion of ammunition partially destroyed the whole, leaving only the base of the tower. The store, better preserved, was restored in 1977 to become a stage cottage. The tower was still in service at the beginning of the 18th century, demonstrating its strategic importance in coastal defence. It was part of a broader context of the fortification of Corsica by Genoa, which had endowed the island with civil and criminal statutes in 1569 to organize its governance and protection.

The Galeria region, then attached to the Chiomi Pier, was almost uninhabited in the 16th century due to the Saracen and barbaric raids. The Genoese had forced local communities to finance these towers to secure coastal areas. The Galeria tower, located on a rocky promontory between two beaches, played a key role in monitoring the eponymous Gulf and the mouth of the Fango, a strategic site for trade and defence.

In the 19th century, after the transfer of Corsica to France, the tower lost its military use. The site gradually became a place of historical and tourist interest, especially after its protection in 1994 as a Historic Monument. Today, it symbolizes the Genoese heritage in Corsica and past efforts to control a coast long threatened by pirates.

The tower is part of a remarkable natural landscape, between Mediterranean maquis and protected forests, close to the Scandola Nature Reserve and the Fango Valley, classified as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO. Its history reflects the geopolitical stakes of the Mediterranean in the 16th-15th centuries, marked by conflicts between Genoa, the barbaric powers and the European kingdoms.

Future

The tower was partially restored and the store restored in 1977 to serve as a stage lodging.

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