There is a solitary tower located beyond the northeastern tip of Palmaria Island in Porto Venere. It emerges from the sea and dominates the water: we are talking about the Tower of Scola.
The Scola tower or tower of St. John the Baptist was a military building located just beyond the northeastern tip (Punta Scola) of Palmaria island in Porto Venere, in the Gulf of Poets in the province of La Spezia.
It is part, together with the fortresses Cavour and Umberto I and the traffic light battery, of the defensive positions of Palmaria. The Scola Tower was part of the defensive system wanted by the Senate of the Republic of Genoa together with other coastal and watchtowers. Its construction dates back between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and its task was precisely to protect the coasts of the Republic, its villages and towns.
At the time, its construction was very expensive: according to some studies, in fact, more than 50,000 Genoese lire were used to erect the structure. The tower has a pentagonal shape and its walls are almost 4 metres thick. The structure was designed to accommodate up to eight people, including soldiers and captains, and ten cannons used precisely to cover and defend the entire area.
In the nineteenth century, after several bombings that defaced the tower, Scola was abandoned to its fate, alone in the middle of the sea, only to return in 1915. In that year, in fact, it was decided to use the structure as a beacon of signaling and in the following years there were several interventions of restoration and restoration of the walls.
