Torre del Campese, Circular watchtower in Giglio Campese, Italy

Torre del Campese is a circular watchtower on a rock at the northern end of Campese Beach, built on a thick scarped base with a large water cistern inside. It has three levels, walls over 2.5 metres thick in places, and loopholes for cannons. An external staircase with a small stone bridge, replacing a wooden drawbridge, leads to the raised entrance. The tower is privately owned and rented as a holiday home.

The tower was built in the mid-16th century under Cosimo I de' Medici to protect the western coast from Turkish pirates. In 1699 a coral reef was found in Campese Bay and fished without licence by Neapolitan crews; Cosimo III then had the structure rebuilt and reinforced in seven months in 1700, adding a chapel and sentry quarters. It was disarmed only in 1861, when it held 20 cannons, 1 mortar, 19 muskets, 11 blunderbusses and 47 pikes.

The name comes from the nearby beach and the fishing village that was once monitored from this spot. Today, the chapel and living spaces inside show how sentries spent their daily lives watching the waters.

It is best to view this tower from a distance since it is a private residence and not open to public visits. The rocky location offers good photo opportunities and is easily visible from the nearby beach.

Inside the tower lies a large underground cistern designed to collect and store water during long periods of isolation. This construction shows how crucial it was for the structure to remain self-sufficient when cut off from outside supplies.