Torre des Pi des Català: a sentinel of Formentera

Torre des Pi des Català, in Formentera, belongs to a defensive system of towers built between the 16th and 18th centuries to monitor the entrance of unknown ships and pirates. The system was composed of 14 towers built around the Pitiüses islands to counter maritime attacks from the Turks, Barbary pirates, and later from English, French, and Dutch fleets. The islands were transformed into a western fortress against the Islamic world, with a network of towers primarily active between April and September.

These towers were typically circular or truncated-conical constructions made of masonry or limestone blocks joined with mortar, using a construction technique called tàpia. Tàpia involved building large pieces to support two layers, filling the interior with materials such as tova - a mixture of mud and straw - or stones with lime. To communicate between one another, the towers used visual signals such as fires at night and smoke during the day. Sometimes a fester, a metal cage-like structure on a pole, was used as a beacon.

Torre des Pi des Català was built during a second phase of construction in the 18th century. While the tower of Cap de Barbaria was completed in 1763, the other towers in this second phase followed a different design scheme. Other towers in the network varied in shape; for example, the tower of Sant Antoni is the only one with a rectangular plan. These structures served to warn the local population of pirate appearances, allowing inhabitants to seek refuge in forests or fortified churches.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons