TOUR DE DIANA - ALERIA

On 12 April 1579, Captain Mariano de Murato was awarded the rights to build a tower at the mouth of the Diana lagoon. Mariano was a brave Corsican officer who fought alongside the Genoese during the wars of the 16C. However, he had few scruples and was given large sums of money without actually beginning any construction work. Once he had received money for the tower, he immediately spent it on various leisure pursuits in his home town of Bastia. The Genoese government was displeased with Captain Marano, yet continued to have confidence in him, as demonstrated by the largesse extended to him. "No ceasefire during construction of the towers. On the contrary, the Moors often made the most of this weakness to run off with workers and equipment. The terms and conditions specified: "if during construction of the towers - may God spare us from such a misfortune! - pirates from the Barbary Coast manage to damage any material, payment for these damages will fall to the most illustrious Camera and not to Captain Mariano or his guarantors." The Tour de Diana was finally finished in 1586. A watercolour painted in 1637 for the government before the land was occupied by a tenant farmer shows the tower surrounded by woods. The river Arena, known as the "filo maestro", can be seen running through luxuriant vegetation. Lighter areas represent the cultivated fields known as "seminature" and the Îlot Sainte Marie is shown attached to the coastline.