The San Felice Tower in the Municipality of Vieste will be restored and made accessible to the public thanks to “CoHeN – Coastal Heritage Network”, a project that aims to create the Adriatic-Ionian coastal route between the Puglia Region and Greece.
The activities started thanks to the assignment of the final and executive design to the technical architects by the Municipality. The survey and the historical-archival survey allowed a first analysis of the coastal defensive system and the typological characteristics of the tower which were developed with the identification of the three construction phases of the monument, starting from 1540 to today.
The research phase was fundamental for the design of a restoration project, in full compliance with the principles of compatibility and minimum intervention, which has reached the approval of the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio.
After the approval of the executive project, the Municipality of Vieste proceeded with the publication of the tender and the award phase of the works.
Work is currently underway at the Torre San Felice construction site. During these first weeks, the contractor company has dealt with the activities of removing plaster, systems, window fixtures and extensions.
The removal of the plaster at the different levels revealed information on the different uses of the tower. Among the most important data, the central room on the ground floor, characterized by a particular cotto tile vault, indicated the presence of the typical layers of the water deposit on the cleaned surfaces, that allows us to believe it was used as a cistern. Furthermore, signs of ash have suggested the use of fire in the rooms of the first floor.
Finally, the assembly of the scaffolding around the tower will allow not only to start the next activities, such as the removal of the roof and the construction of the systems, but also to enjoy a privileged view towards the Arch of San Felice.
