Torre del Sale, Defense tower in Piombino, Italy

Torre del Sale is a solid defense tower on Piombino's Tuscan coast built with thick stone walls and a square base. The structure was originally part of a system for monitoring the salt production facilities that lined the shoreline.

Torre del Sale was built to strengthen the coastal defences of the southern Principality of Piombino and to guard against pirate raids that could reach the capital; it kept watch and defended the coast until the 19th century. Known as Casa del Sale until the mid-17th century, it stood on the tombolo between marsh and sea. In the early 19th century the Lorena drainage works turned it into a fortress with barracks, stables and a health house; it was disarmed in 1847.

The name refers to the salt trade that shaped economic life along this coast for centuries. Visitors can observe how the structure itself reflects the importance of this activity to the local community.

The tower stands in the south-eastern part of Piombino's territory, on the tombolo between the former marsh and the sea, beside the site of the old salt works. The complex is in a ruined state and awaits conservation work, so it is viewed from outside. Nearby stand the Piombino thermal power plant and a six-turbine wind farm.

The upper floors of the small building served until 1967 as the home of a hydraulic overseer and as offices for the Livorno Civil Engineering Office. A large 1,280 MW Enel thermoelectric plant was later built next to the tower, and a wind farm of six Vestas turbines stands nearby.