MACC – Calasetta Museum of Contemporary Art

Description

The Calasetta Savoy tower was built between March 1756 and June 1757, in the midst of the Savoy era before the foundation of Calasetta (1770).

In the master plan created by the engineer Pietro Belly (1770) it is specified that this is the plan of the village to be built on the island of Sant’Antioco near the Torre di Cala di seta.

Local materials (stones and sand) were used to build the tower; the lime was brought from Porto Paglia.

From other nearby locations (probably the Matzaccara area or the island of San Pietro) stones lighter than the local trachyte were taken and transported to the site, to be used for the vault.

Since the men hired on the island of Sant’Antioco itself would not have been sufficient, nor would it have been appropriate to divert others from agricultural work, unemployed workers from Carloforte were hired.

The direction of the works was entrusted to a certain Engineer Solerj, who probably also carried out the project.

Of truncated cone shape, it generally repeats the pattern of the numerous towers found at more or less regular intervals along the coasts of the Sardinian coast. It has a diameter of approximately m at the base. 9 and a height of approximately m. 12; the thickness of the perimeter walls varies from m. 070 above, at m. 2.80 below.

The original entrance is located about m. 5 above the ground.

The interior, ventilated and illuminated by slits (today one remains, the others have been transformed into actual windows), is divided into three rooms: a large semicircular entrance, which communicates with two rooms behind it that are half the size of the previous one.

A masonry staircase, created within the thickness of the wall, allows access to the terrace (parade ground).

A frame (rod) made with stone other than trachyte to better highlight it, today partly destroyed, constitutes the only decorative element on the outside.

Access to the tower was permitted by a sort of drawbridge which was operated from the inside.

The purpose of the “Cala di Seta” tower, as well as the older one of Portoscuso, was the control of the San Pietro Canal, for the defense of the city of Carloforte and, later, of the inhabited area and the population of Calasetta.

From the reports drawn up during the inspections to which the towers of the Kingdom of Sardinia were periodically subjected, we know that an Alcaide (commander of the tower) served in the tower, under whose orders were, in different periods, from three to sixteen soldiers.

The tower was equipped with weapons and ammunition, including two 8-caliber iron cannons.

In 1875 the Municipality of Calasetta purchased the tower and the surrounding state land.

During the First and Second World Wars the building was restored several times. A final careful restoration, carried out at the beginning of the eighties, brought to light the ground floor, originally filled with sand and debris.

The floor of the environment is the natural plane of the rock, from which a central pillar rises which gives rise to three majestic arches. Against the side wall, the rainwater tank, whose mouth is located on the upper floor.

An artificial opening allows you to enter this environment from the outside.

Formerly a military building and in more recent times a restaurant, the ground floor of the tower is currently home to an archaeological museum managed by the Macc foundation, the same one that takes care of the contemporary art museum of Calasetta. The room on the upper floor is used for ceremonies and temporary exhibitions.

Mute witness of all the sad and happy events of the Calasettani since its origins, it is considered the symbol of the town and for this reason it is represented in the banner of the Municipality.

(From the Calasetta Pro Loco website)