Ricerc@Sapienza

The paper aims to deepen the knowledge of the anthropization processes of the coastal landscape of Lazio, between Civitavecchia, to the north, and Terracina, to the south, focusing attention on the system of defensive towers as architectural evidence, still visible, of a territory in transformation, altered by urbanization, often “spontaneous”, which caused, especially in the last century, the uncontrolled expansion of illegal settlements and the construction of important infrastructures. The work investigates, above all, the complex relationship established between the system of coastal towers – today very different from the past but still legible – for their function of defense and control, since these architectures represented in the past, strong signs in the area, significant elements of great value. Intact or reduced to the state of ruin, these testimonies, mostly abandoned in the mid-nineteenth century, are still able to tell important historical and architectural events. The contribution, through the study of archival and iconographic sources and the survey, has as its objective not only to investigate history, but also to propose actions for the recovery and enhancement of these structures.