Santa Maria Tower in Ustica
The Tower of Santa Maria di Ustica is a coastal defense tower that was part of the Sicilian coastal tower system. The tower stands on the hill just above the port of Cala Santa Maria. It was built in 1763 at the behest of Charles III of Bourbon.
Today the tower is in a bad state of maintenance and cannot be visited inside. At one time the entrance to the tower was via a drawbridge, now replaced by a masonry ramp. The upper floor can be reached via an iron staircase. The walls and pillars have remained mostly intact and still show its original structure which resembles a parallelepiped with a quadrangular base.
