Overview
You get there by walking along Corso Vittorio Emanuele, which in the last stretch opens up to panoramic views, offering epiphanies of the sea, beyond the tree-lined Piazza Scio. Or you can get there from the south along the wide promenade of Viale Regina Elena, with the maritime station refurbished in 2005.
The tower is a massive tufa construction, erected in 1671 by the Prince of Ligny, at the north end of the harbour crescent. Situated in a lookout position, it has a panoramic function but also an environmental one, as if it had to partition the winds and waters, and an archaeological one because inside it houses the Civic Museum.
But one thing is certain: from here the view is splendid and if you walk around the tower and look back you can see the city with its curved shape and Mount Erice, while if you look forward you can see the islands of Favignana and Levanzo. The small museum houses an interesting collection of marine archaeology, with anchors, amphorae from Roman and Punic times. Roman helmets from the First Punic War (264-141 BC) and a bronze rostrum recovered at sea from the same period stand out.
