The Tour d'Erbalunga ( co, Torra d'Erbalunga) is a ruined Genoese tower near

Erbalunga Erbalunga or Erbalonga is an ancient fishing village on Cap Corse, in the municipality of Brando in the French department of Haute-Corse, Corsica. The village of Erbalonga is the most northerly coastal settlement of Cap Corse, with vertigin ...

located in the commune of

Brando Brando may refer to: People * Marlon Brando (1924–2004), American actor ** Christian Brando (1958–2008), son of Marlon Brando ** Miko C. Brando, Marlon Brando's son and Michael Jackson's one-time friend, bodyguard, and assistant ** Tarita Chey ...

(

Haute-Corse Haute-Corse (; co, Corsica suprana , or ; en, Upper Corsica) is (as of 2022) an administrative department of France, consisting of the northern part of the island of Corsica. The corresponding departmental territorial collectivity merged wi ...

) on the east coast of the

Cap Corse Cap Corse (; co, Capicorsu, ; it, Capo Corso, ), a geographical area of Corsica, is a long peninsula located at the northern tip of the island. At the base of it is the second largest city in Corsica, Bastia. Cap Corse is also a Communauté ...

on the French island of

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

. A tower existed at Erbalunga in 1488. It was destroyed by French forces in their invasion of Corsica in 1553 and was then rebuilt when the French withdrew after the

treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal perso ...

. The tower was one of a series of coastal defences constructed by the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Lat ...

between 1530 and 1620 to stem the attacks by

Barbary pirates The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...

. In 1927 the tower was listed as one of the official historical monuments of France.

Notes and references

External links

* Includes information on how to reach 90 towers and many photographs. Towers in Corsica Monuments historiques of Corsica {{Corsica-struct-stub