The hamlet of San Michele di Pagana, with a historical Saracen tower, is one of the most beautiful corners of Liguria and is just beyond the tourist port on the road from Rapallo to Santa Margherita Ligure. The crystal-clear sea, the foliage of the pines reflected in the water, the villas scattered on the hillside and the old fishermen's houses on the beach make it charmingly picturesque and quite enchanting.
Protection against Saracen raids
Between San Michele di Pagana and Prelo beach on a promontory covered with maritime pines, stands the Punta Pagana Tower, one of the rare examples of a preserved Ligurian Saracen tower built by the Senate of the Republic of Genoa in 1562 to defend the coves along the coast from pirate raids.
Today the Punta Pagana Tower is owned by FAI, the Italian Environmental Fund, which has restored it and occasionally opens it to the public. On the same promontory there the Castle of Punta Pagana, which was built in 1625 against attacks by French-Piedmontese troops during the period of hostilities between the Genoese Republic and Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy. The castle, with the villa and the park surrounding it, is now owned by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and cannot be visited.
