The Gaffe tower, also called Torre Jafi, stands six kilometres from Licata, eleven metres above sea level. It is one of the watchtowers built in the sixteenth century by Camillo Camilliani, sculptor, architect and engineer, associated with the Fontana Pretoria in Palermo and the author of other Sicilian towers, such as that of Charles V at Porto Empedocle and that of Monterosso at Realmonte. It watched over the wide Ciotta beach and the farming hinterland, and defended the fief of the dukes of the Gaffe, a Catalan family that came to Sicily under Frederick III and had here its residence, a church and a small rural hamlet.
What to see
The tower is cylindrical, almost ten metres in diameter, with walls of dressed stone; it is structurally sound and keeps stretches of its lime plaster and remains of the corbels of the crown. The first floor is a single room covered by a shallow dome.
Around it are a few buildings, among them a small Guardia di Finanza barracks and, next to the tower, the little church of San Giusippuzzu di Gafi. The hamlet today has about a hundred inhabitants.
Visiting
The tower is seen from outside; any visit to the interior should be checked on the spot or with Licata town council.
Our editors' tip
Between 1915 and 1958 the village had its own railway halt, Torre di Gaffe, on the Agrigento-Naro-Licata line. Today the tower gives its name to one of the beaches in the territory of Licata.
