Ricerc@Sapienza

The ruins of a rectangular stone construction are visible in the old city of Kyrenia; the tower was part of the walled urban defensive system. The city had been already fortified in Byzantine times but during the Longobard war, before the city seize, Frederick II’s party, under the direction of Captain Philippo Genardo improved the defences. It is in this phase that we hypothesised the construction of the round southwest corner tower of the city walls (1211-1232).

The so-called “beach-tower” is the smallest of the three remaining towers belonging to the Kyrenia’s
medieval enceinte. Semi-circular in plan, with circa 6 m of diameter, the tower is today partially obliterated by the medieval urban tissue and is visible only from one side. Built during the twelfth-thirteenth
centuries, this harbour overlooking tower is raised on a pedestal in the north-west inner corner of the
city walled enclosure. The tower shows on the outside two windows that might belong to a later phase,

Some recent personal studies on the most representative helicoidal staircases of the Renaissance and Baroque were an opportunity to compare two emblematic figures of the '500 Italian, Vignola and Mascarino. The first is known to all, the second is certainly less well known though new historical studies are re-evaluating his work also as architect.