Cerrano Tower, Coastal tower in Pineto, Italy

Cerrano Tower stands on a small hill near the beach between Silvi and Pineto along the Adriatic coast, surrounded by tall pine trees. The structure has thick brick walls that narrow toward the top and features corbels and battlements typical of 16th-century coastal defense buildings.

Construction may have begun in 1490-94, and documents show Alfonso Salazar contracted a tower "at the point of Chirano" in 1568, possibly completing an earlier structure and using it as a model for other Abruzzo towers. It was finished by 1582, and in 1585 corporal Francesco Martinez served there as Torriero. It formed part of the Viceroy's chain of coastal towers, garrisoned and armed with culverins to signal and repel Saracen raids.

The name comes from the Cerrano stream, the ancient Matrinus, probably linked to the goddess Ceres. The stream rises from old qanat-type fountains on the Atri hills and reaches the sea about a kilometre south of the tower, in Silvi. In the sea nearby lie the submerged remains of an L-shaped pier and masonry of the ancient port of Atri.

The tower stands about two kilometres south of Pineto's built-up area, on a low hill right behind the beach, and is one of the IZSAM sites, so the complex is not a public visitor centre. A tall retaining wall built for the railway runs just below it. The L-shaped pier of the old port of Atri lies submerged in the sea near the tower and the Cerrano stream mouth.

The stretch of sea beside the tower and the Cerrano stream covers the remains of the ancient port of Atri: an L-shaped pier, masonry and various artefacts lie submerged offshore. The stream itself rises from very old qanat-type fountains on the Atri hills and reaches the sea about a kilometre south of the tower, in the municipality of Silvi.