Torregrande

Torregrande is the seafront of Oristano: three kilometres of golden sand between a marina and the mouth of the Tirso, a palm-lined promenade, and the great Spanish tower, begun in 1542, that gives the place its name and the shore its skyline.

Why it matters

Torregrande is Oristano’s beach, about ten kilometres from the city centre, where the gulf shore opens into a seaside settlement. The settlement takes its name from a cylindrical tower about seventeen metres high, built between 1542 and 1572 under Spanish rule to defend the Gulf of Oristano against Barbary attacks. It is the largest of Sardinia’s roughly eighty coastal towers.

That combination — a serious monument of coastal military history standing over a working beach with a promenade, a marina and a marine-research station — is what makes Torregrande more than a place to swim.

What to notice

The cylindrical tower, about seventeen metres high, dominates the settlement. Built to watch a gulf long exposed to raids from the sea, the tower overlooks the promontory of Capo San Marco to the southwest. On clear days, the tower of San Giovanni di Sinis and Monte Arcuentu are visible beyond it.

The shore runs about three kilometres from the tourist marina to the mouth of the Tirso, lined with tall palms and a seafront promenade. Its sand ranges from cream to grey, with fine gravel, low dunes and herbaceous vegetation. A branch of the CNR's institute for the coastal marine environment works here, and the marina is Oristano’s port on the Gulf.

Context and history

The tower was built between 1542 and 1572 during Spanish rule as the chief defence of the gulf. Its Sardinian name, Sa Turri Manna, also means “the great tower.” A small settlement of farmers and fishermen grew around it and developed into the seaside centre that runs along the shore today.

The tower now looks onto the protected Gulf of Oristano and Sinis Peninsula, whose marine area was established in 1997. The beach settlement also hosts a state marine-research institute.