Torra di Pinareddu

The Tower of Pinareddu is a Genoese tower located in the commune of Zonza on the east coast of the Corsica. The tower sits at an elevation of 52 metres on the Île de Pinarellu.

The tower was built in around 1595. It was one of a series of coastal defences constructed by the Republic of Genoa between 1530 and 1620 to stem the attacks by Barbary pirates. Genoese documents refer to the Île de Pinarellu as the Isola dei Corsi or the Island of the Corsaires. The design of the Tower of Pinareddu is unusual in that the plan is square rather than round. The tower is 13 metres in height and each side at the base is 9.5 metres reducing to 8 metres at the string course. The tower was attacked by the Ottoman Turks and burned in 1650.