It hides among the maritime pines that color the sides of the Amalfi Coast. It appears and reappears in the distance, between the long and articulated stairs of this beautiful and impossible coast.
The Torre dello Ziro stands there, laid down on the spur of tuff rock that rises on the edge of the sea, separating Amalfi from Atrani, and watches over the valley, the port, the roofs of the houses clinging to the mountain, over the lemon trees.
To reach it you have to walk a bit, together with the scents of the spontaneous Mediterranean vegetation. The encounter with a mule laden with packages turns on a smile and imagination.
Ph. Flaviana Frascogna
The mind has fun by starting to imagine what life was like at the time of the Barbarians, when the Amalfitans, to protect themselves from pirate raids, chose to settle right here, in the territory of Scala, the oldest village on the Amalfi Coast. So old and so rich in history, that it keeps the ruins of almost 150 churches and the remains of ancient towers, including those of the Ziro.
In the year 1100 it was called Rocca San Felice, only a century later it became Turris Cziri and today, due to its position, it seems to be the tutelary God of this land. When you go to the Torre dello Ziro you don’t need maps or GPS. Atrani is the compass that guides the path.
Ph. Flaviana Frascogna
It peeps out in the distance, among the barks of the trees. It can be recognized by the loggia roofs and the white houses that stand out against the dark colors of the rock. At first it is a dot on the sea, then slowly it gets bigger. When it seems to be possible to touch it simply by extending an arm, it means that you have finally reached the Torre dello Ziro. And the landscape all around, so spectacular that it could be the set of a movie, confirms this.
Ph. Flaviana Frascogna
Who knows what torments Joan of Aragon must have felt when she was locked up with her children by her brothers inside the tower. Without freedom and without a view of paradise. It was 1500 when the poor woman married the duke of Amalfi, Alfonso Piccolomini, at a very young age. But in her twenties she was already a widow and began a romantic relationship with her servant Antonio Bologna, whom she then secretly married and with whom she had children.
When her brothers Carlo and Federico d’Aragona learnt what had happened, they tried to separate the lovers, initially without success. The two fled but were soon found and Carlo and Federico's revenge was merciless: Bologna was killed and Giovanna spent the rest of her days walled up alive with her children in the Torre dello Ziro, without doors or windows.
Ph. Flaviana Frascogna
If you lean on the crenellated wall that surrounds the tower, with your back to the panorama, in the absolute silence of this timeless place, it seems as you actually see Giovanna, as she moves agitatedly in search of an expedient to save herself and her children.