At the beginning of the first millenium, the necessity of the Normans
to face the powerful Arabian army favoured the birth of a feudal-like
economic and political system in the South of Italy. Wide areas around
Crotone were enfeoffed, and autonomous fortified microsystems for each
feudal concession were built.
Since the existing defensive means
were not sufficient to face the new fire-arms, with the resumption of
Turkish raids, both the Aragonese and the Spanish viceroys ordered new
works of fortification on the coast, and in the South of Italy a
permanent system of coastal defence was created. The project consisted
of the building of coastal towers in order to report the arrival of the
enemies' ships in the whole kingdom.