TELEMETRIC TOWERS: CALCULATING DISTANCES WITH TRIGONOMETRY

Telemetric towers are located further inland than coastal batteries. Because of their height, which made them all too recognizable, they were disguised as civilian dwellings by means of pitched roofs or by constructing other buildings nearby to shelter equipment or to house the military.

What were they used for and how does trigonometry fit in? Telemetric towers are lookout posts also used to calculate distances. Large telescopes and precision rangefinders came out of the slits to focus on targets. Each battery received the shooting coordinates from three telemetric towers appropriately spaced and, through trigonometric functions, the distance of the target to be hit was calculated.

An unseen horizon on the coastline

The inhabitants of Cavallino called the telemetric towers “semaphores” because they had large colored disks at the top, used as a means of signaling. During your bike rides with the family or by car all along the coast, you can admire the telemetric towers rising on the horizon. Once partially inhabited or converted for craft activities, they are now decommissioned and visible only externally.

Tourist itineraries to the discovery of the telemetric towers

Going along the length of the coast you can meet:
1) Lio Grando Tower
2) The two towers of Forte Vecchio (“Old Fort”)
3) Tower of the former Barracks Ca’ Pasquali
4) Crepaldo Tower
5) Ca’Padovan Tower
6) Radaelli Tower
7) Ca’Bodi Tower
8) Sassonio (Saxony) Tower
9) Vignotto Tower
10) Ca’ di Valle Tower
11) San Marco Tower also known as ‘Caffettiera’.
12) Ca’Scarpa Tower
13) Ca’Savio Tower
14) Via Hermada Tower