The sinis

Marine Protected Area Pensiola del Sinis - Mal di Ventre Island

Island of Mal di Ventre

Capo Mannu / Is Arenas

Is Arutas / Mari Ermi

Su Tingiosu
The populations that lived by the sea were forced to abandon their residences by taking refuge inside because they were constantly attacked by pirates; activities such as fishing and tuna traps were also abandoned; even navigation for commercial purposes had become somewhat difficult and therefore very limited. The summer months were those in which most of the Barbary raids took place, and groups of men on horseback were set up in order to patrol the coasts for those months. The pirates, however, realizing that in the remaining months the coasts remained unattended, they decided to attack throughout the year. A new remedy had to be made by intensifying supervision and distributing it not only in the summer months.
Strong towers (heavy defense): these towers generally had four cannons, two pushers, five rifles. The force consisted of an alcade, a gunner and four soldiers.
Torri Senzillas (light defense): they were not so big towers, equipped with two cannons, a push and three rifles. The garrison consisted of an alcade, a gunner, two or three soldiers.
Torrezillas (sighting): structurally small, they were equipped with two rifles, sometimes a spartan and manned by two soldiers.