The Nasari tower stands on a hill in the hamlet of the same name in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, an old fief of Castroreale, on the right bank of the Longano stream, near the village of San Paolo and the Santa Venera area. It guarded the Longano valley and the roads to Gala and Castroreale, and it can be seen from the Tyrrhenian coast: from here Capo Tindari is visible to the west, the Gurafi tower and Milazzo castle to the east, and Castroreale castle to the south.
What to see
The present tower was built in the sixteenth century on the base of an older medieval tower; only its first level survives, roofless, with stretches of the wall that enclosed the platform. It is square outside and round inside, with a single entrance, built of rubble, mortar and blocks of various sizes. Between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries several interventions were needed to keep it stable.
According to the historians Vito Maria Amico and Francesco Ferrara the tower was taken by the Great Count Roger after the capture of Milazzo. A diploma of 1127 assigns the village of Nasari to the viscount Ansaldo de Arri; in 1435 the fief is described as a «village with tower and fortalice» belonging to Antonio and Bonsignore Nassari, a family that held it for a long time, before the Porzio and, from 1795, Gaetano Deodato.
Visiting
The tower is a ruin in open country: access and condition should be checked on site or with the town council.
Our editors' tip
There are three theories on the name: for Giovanni Luca Barberi it would come from an Arab warrior, Abu-Nasar, or from a baroness Nasari who lived in the castle; for Abbot Amico it would mean «land or tower of Ari», from the name of Ansaldo de Arri.
