Torre di San Felice - tower and vantage point overlooking the rock arch of Arco di San Felice
Alarm and defense
Torre San Felice is a coastal defense, observation and signal tower. Coastal towers since antiquity have remained the best means of protection against unwanted invaders from the sea. To date, nothing has changed in principle. Only the way of listening and observing has changed. It used to be a man with a trained eye and ear, and today it is electronics, radio waves and other inventions. However, it is still listening and observation.
The tower was built in 1540, during the reign of the Kingdom of Naples. The kingdom encompassed all of southern Italy, covered on three sides by the waters of the sea, suffered severely from the constant sea invasions of the Saracens and corsairs. Therefore, in the XNUMXth century, measures were taken to create an observation, protection and signaling system that would enable detection and quick response to the impending threat.
The rule was simple: you had to put up enough towers along the coast so that each tower could see two adjacent ones. One on the left and one on the right. The tower that detected the threat generated a warning signal (in the form of light or smoke signs). Neighboring towers that noticed the warning signal passed it on to warn of the danger, etc.
Some of the towers were additionally located in such a way that they performed military functions, enabling remote firing of the attacker.
Thus, a system consisting of the 379 towers (according to data from the inventory carried out in 1748).
Despite so many towers, the system was never completed and there are some sections where towers have no left or right neighbor.
Today the towers are great observation points. They were usually built in places that gave a perfect view to either side of the coast. Therefore, they usually have a beautiful view both ways (as long as they have not grown wild in the meantime).
Full list of Coastal Towers of the Kingdom of Naples along with a description of their current state can be found on the Wikipedia website. Here I am link directly to the translation into Polish.
The rock arch of Arco di San Felice
Due to its location, Torre San Felice is the best viewpoint on the beautiful rock formation known to everyone Arch of San Felice. We tried to approach it from almost all sides, and even so it turned out that the bow looks best when viewed from an observation tower.
So I recommend that you do not worry about looking for the best viewpoint, just go straight to the Torre San Felice tower and enjoy the beautiful view.
In season, you can go to the Arco di San Felice arch and to other rocky coast formations by boat from Vieste, as part of a short, organized trip.
The tower and the arch are very close Vieste (about 9 km), towns that described in a separate entry. It is also one of the points prepared by me Puglia sightseeing planwhere you will find route maps, a complete sightseeing plan and a list of the most interesting places worth seeing in the south of Italy.
Useful GPS coordinates
Parking at the Torre San Felice defense tower overlooking the famous Arco San Felice rock arch, GPS coordinates:
41°49’39.0″N 16°11’38.9″E
41.827488, 16.194135 - click and route
Important to me!
Give the article a good rating (5 stars welcome 😀)!It's free, a for me it is very important! The blog lives on visits and thus has a chance to develop. Please do it and ... thank you in advance!
If you like my guides, you will certainly find the one I created useful guide catalog - [click]. There you will find ready-made ideas for your next trips, descriptions of other tourist destinations and an alphabetical list of guides divided into countries, cities, islands and geographical regions.
I also post link to Facebook profile - [click]. Come in and press "Follow"then you will not miss new, inspiring posts.
Unless you prefer Instagram. I'm not a social media demon, but you can always count on something nice to look at on my instagram profile - [click]. The profile will gladly accept any follower who likes it.
I read ALL the comments (and many times). Under each of them I could write that Thank you very much, because you are real fantastic. I often come back to comments because they give me motivation and energy. For me this is invaluable a treasure trove of good emotions!
Thank you for this here (I don't want to clutter the comments with repeated thanks). Know that by leaving a kind word here, you are doing a really good job for me!
I make the content I create available free of charge with copyright, and the blog survives from advertising and affiliate cooperation. So, automatic ads will be displayed in the content of the articles, and some links are affiliate links. This has no effect on the final price of the service or product, but I may earn a commission for displaying ads or following certain links. I only recommend services and products that I find good and helpful. Since the beginning of the blog's existence, I have not published any sponsored article.
Some of the readers who found the information here very helpful, sometimes ask me how you can support the blog? I do not run fundraisers or support programs (type: patronite, zrzutka or "buy coffee"). The best way is to use links. It costs you nothing, and support for the blog is self-generating.
Pozdrawiam
I have rated 5 stars without hesitation! Great entry and beautiful views!