Visual Connections as a Palimpsest of the Coastal Landscape: The System of Coastal Towers of Sardinia

The paper presents the first results of a study at an early stage of research. The coastal landscape in Sardinia is characterized by the presence of a system of towers built between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The coastal towers system, set on precise rules to ensure a visual link between the various nodes of the defense system, determines a dense control network on the coastal territory. It arises from the interaction between the morphology of the coast, the principles of coastal supervision and governance, the techniques and the methods adopted in their location and construction. This system, in perfect symbiosis with the territory, is today an identity element of the island’s coastal landscape, sometimes well-preserved or afflicted in its original features. In particular, among the anthropic degradation phenomena, there is the loss of visual connections. This basic item of the system is not always worthy value, it should be protected in order to preserve the original visual connections of the defensive system as well as preserving the visuals on the same ones from other strategic and non-strategic points of view. By analyzing some representative sample cases, through the method of drawing the research has highlighted the permanence of values and meanings of the tower defensive system and the coastal landscape connected to them.