Genoese tower

The Genoese towers in Corsica (French: Tours génoises de Corse, Corsican: Torri ghjinuvesi di a Corsica) are a series of coastal defences constructed by the Republic of Genoa between 1530 and 1620 to stem the attacks by Barbary pirates.

Corsica had been controlled by the Genoese since 1284 when they established their supremacy over the Pisans in the naval Battle of Meloria. Towards the end of the 15th century the Ottoman Turks expanded their control of the Mediterranean westwards and became a dominant maritime power in the region. In 1480 they sacked Otranto in southern Italy and in 1516 they took control of Algiers. In the first decades of the 16th century Turkish corsairs in galleys and fustas often rowed by Christian slaves began attacking villages around the Corsican coastline. Many hundreds of villagers were captured and taken away to be sold as slaves. The Genoese Republic responded by building a series of towers around the coastline. Most were built to a similar circular design with a roof terrace protected by machicolations. Nearly one hundred were constructed before the Genoese decided in around 1620 that they were unable to defend the island and abandoned the building program.

In 1794, during the French Revolutionary Wars, British naval forces struggled to capture a Genoese tower in Corsica near the Punta Mortella, one of two towers guarding the entrance to the port of Saint-Florent. Impressed by their effectiveness and simple design, the British built many similar towers calling them Martello towers.

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