Ligny Tower, Trapani, Italy

Ligny Tower is a coastal watchtower built between 1671 and 1672 at a strategic position on the city's western coast. Today, the tower is in good condition, and it is open to the public as an archaeological museum.

Ligny Tower was built on a narrow strip of land on Trapani's western coast, to defend the city from attacks by the Barbary corsairs. It was named after the Viceroy of Sicily, Claude Lamoral, 3rd Prince of Ligne, who had ordered its construction. The tower was designed by the Flemish architect Carlos de Grunenbergh. It has a square base with scarped walls, with four corner turrets which originally contained lanterns.

A passage connecting the tower with the mainland was built in 1806, and guns were installed on the tower's roof until 1862. It was subsequently used as a semaphore station, but it was eventually abandoned.

In World War II, the tower was used by the Regia Marina and was armed with anti-aircraft guns.

References:

Wikipedia

Castles and fortifications in Italy

User Reviews

michalakadam88 (5 years ago)
Great place to see the sunset!

Melania Brand (6 years ago)
Beautiful view. Can enjoy reading and meditation here.

Ondřej Novák (6 years ago)
Very beautiful place, great view, the place where Tyrrhenian and Mediterranean seas meet. The museum part is small, interesting and during our visit (July 2019) uncomplete. Interesting info: There are local wedding sometimes. Also, local children had been using the rocks behind the tower for testing their courage by jumping to the distant ones (wedding witnessed, the other thing told us our local host).

Asbjørn Bordoy (6 years ago)
The museum was closed, but It was very nice walk with a nice view.

Antonio Fiorino (6 years ago)
Fantastic Place. However on Sunday It should have been open but we found It closed. So we did not visit the Museum. Really a shame.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Andy Hay

Historic Site of the week

Argos Theater

The ancient Argos Theater was built in 320 BC. and is located in Argos, Greece against Larissa Hill. Nearby from this site is Agora, Roman Odeon, and the Baths of Argos. The theater is one of the largest architectural developments in Greece and was renovated in ca 120 AD.

The Hellenistic theater at Argos is cut into the hillside of the Larisa, with 90 steps up a steep incline, forming a narrow rectilinear cavea. Among the largest theaters in Greece, it held about 20,000 spectators and is divided by two landings into three horizontal sections. Staircases further divide the cavea into four cunei, corresponding to the tribes of Argos A high wall was erected to prevent unauthorized access into the theatron and may have helped the acoustics, but it is said the sound quality is still very good today.

Around 120 CE, both theaters were renovated in the Roman style.

Ligny Tower

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Finest Norman castles in Italy

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Historic Site of the week

Argos Theater