Il Torrione di Forio d’Ischia, monumento simbolo di una comunità

Between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the island of Ischia was equipped with a defense system of sighting towers defense system, which made it possible to monitor the island almost completely, sadly known for the many pirate raids. To curb the looting of pirates in the Kingdom of Naples, Alfonso I of Aragon (mid-fifteenth century) and Charles V (mid-sixteenth century) started the construction of maritime towers along all the coasts of the kingdom. Only in the territory of Forio the sources of the second half of the sixteenth century count seven or twelve towers. This defensive system had the particularity of using both square and circular towers, all dated in a fairly short period of time, between the end of the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries. The first tower in Forio is the Torrione, which has a circular tower and is also the largest, as the name of the building underlines (“torrione” meaning large tower). The Torrione is clearly recognizable from the first known cartography by Mario Cartaro and takes on a role of great importance almost all views of Forio. This centrality is also evident in the first photographs and then in postcards, confirming the role of the tower’s landmark. From tower to defense of the community to seat of artistic memory; now the tower houses the civic museum. The function is particularly compatible, because it also recalls the destination it had as home -workshop for the artist Giovanni Maltese at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century.