Look for it along the shore and you will not find it: the Torre Saracena stands high up, in the medieval village of Vallecrosia Alta, because defence against sea raiders was not played out on the beach alone. Built in the 14th century, it belonged to a system of long-range lookout and defence against enemy fleets coming from the sea, and it is protected today as a listed monument.
What to see
The tower belongs to the group of five structures that the people of Vallecrosia treat as their emblem: the Torrione on the coast, a tower along the road climbing from the sea to the village and three tower-houses inside the old core, where centuries have welded military and civil building together until they blur. That is why it pays to look up as you walk the lanes: what seems to be the side of a house is often the body of a tower.
The village around it is worth the climb. Its plan is triangular, shaped by a bend of the Verbone stream, with an almost regular grid of blocks. The parish church of Sant'Antonio abate, probably late medieval in origin, owes its present look to the Baroque rebuilding of 1737, with a facade decorated in 1786; just outside, alone among the olive trees, the oratory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, raised in the 12th century, stands beside another watchtower of the 16th century.
Visiting
Vallecrosia Alta is reached from the coast on the SP 59, the road to San Biagio della Cima: a few bends above the flower greenhouses that are still the main local business. The tower is the object of a safety and restoration project funded by the Ministry of Culture, awarded to the town council in 2022 and put out to contract only in 2025 after a long passage through the heritage offices: for now you look at it from outside, while a second phase of works should open it to the public.
Our editors' tip
We leave the car at the entrance to the village and walk the loop: the inner streets are narrow and the tower only makes sense once you have gone around it. If you have time, head east on the mule track linking Vallecrosia Alta to Borghetto San Nicolò and Vallebona: it is the old route between the villages of the Otto Luoghi, the small federation recognised by Genoa in 1686 to free them from the control of Ventimiglia.