Gulf of Asinara

The Gulf of Asinara faces northern Sardinia, with Porto Torres occupying a central position on its shore. The port's tower illustrates how maritime traffic was governed as well as defended. Privileges granted by Alfonso the Magnanimous in 1440 document its customs and fiscal role. The tower was repaired and rearmed under successive administrations, while its garrison depended on resources supplied from nearby Sassari.

Raids on Porto Torres were especially concentrated between 1538 and 1553, prompting requests for stronger coastal defenses. In the seventeenth century and into the Savoy period, the tower continued to watch shipping. During outbreaks of disease it also helped control vessels considered capable of spreading infection. Its duties therefore extended beyond repelling attacks to regulating access to the port. The gulf's early modern history includes this routine scrutiny of arriving boats, in which customs revenue, armed protection and precautions against epidemic disease converged at the same waterfront.