Room I
MARQ
The territory and the origin of the huerta
Two thousand years of relations between Alicante and the sea, and the shaping of the farmland fed by the Tibi reservoir.
Interactive Tour
FRAME 001 / 181
Independent non-profit cultural project
Torre Sarrió
Civic portal for the cultural heritage of the Watchtowers of Alicante's Huerta
INTERPRETATION CENTRE
Torre Sarrió currently houses the Interpretation Centre of the Watchtowers of the Huerta, promoted institutionally by Alicante City Council with the participation of the Provincial Council and MARQ.
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Inside Torre Sarrió
Welcome to the Interpretation Centre
The museum facility hosts three thematic sections on territory, coastal defence, and the ennoblement of the Alicante Huerta.
Exterior
Interior
Heritage figures
The largest defensive orchard system
Milestone 1
1594
Year inscribed on the talus
«PERE LLOPIS»
Milestone 2
25
Towers still standing
of the 43 documented
Milestone 3
3
Floors and terrace
over a vaulted semi-basement
Milestone 4
2026
Opening of the centre
8 July · City Hall + MARQ
A tower, a network, a landscape
The stone memory of Alicante's huerta.
Built in 1594 by Pere Llopis —whose name and date can still be read carved on the talus—, the Torre Sarrió is part of the network of watch, refuge and defence towers raised between the 15th and 17th centuries in Alicante's Huerta to face the raids of the Barbary pirates.
Restored in 2010 under the direction of the architect Màrius Bevià after decades of neglect and fires, the tower was rehabilitated in two phases up to 2021. In July 2026 it opened to the public as the Interpretation Centre of the Watchtowers of the Huerta, a joint project of Alicante City Hall, the Provincial Council and MARQ, funded by Next Generation funds and the Tourism Sustainability Plans.
BIC · 1997Historical Monument
Torre Sarrió in Albufereta
Central hub of the heritage circuit next to Lucentum archaeological site.
Museum Space
What you will see in the Interpretation Centre: three thematic blocks
Information on the venue: The following description outlines the exhibition space installed in Torre Sarrió by Alicante City Council, MARQ and Fundación MARQ, with museography by Rocamora Diseño y Arquitectura.
Room II
MARQ
Towers, refuge and defence
Loopholes, machicolations and battlements against the corsair. Daily life under threat and the alerts passed between towers.
Room III
MARQ
The ennobling of the huerta
Stately houses built alongside the towers: when defence became a symbol of prosperity and status.
«The wealth of our huerta had a counterpart in the raids of North African corsairs: the farmers needed to protect themselves, and so this unique network of towers took shape.»
⚔Are there Moors on the coast?
When the Mediterranean was a frontier.
Barbarossa, Dragut, Arraéz… The names of the Ottoman and Barbary corso marked the life of the Alicante coast for two centuries. The towers replied with fire and smoke: a chain of alerts linking the huerta with the castle of Santa Bárbara.
The fear of an era, the memory of a people · Heritage that unites us
Where to find it
At the heart of the Albufereta.
The tower stands next to Glorieta Carolina Pascual, at the corner of Miriam Blasco and Vía Parque, a few metres from the Roman site of Lucentum and Albufereta beach. In the 16th century it stood on the road linking the Águilas and Santiago towers with the Ciprés tower.
🚊
Alicante TRAMLines 4 & 5 (Sergio Cardell)
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Lucentum350 metres walk
🚶
Open surroundingsPark open 24 hours
📍
La AlbuferetaGlorieta Carolina Pascual
Views of Albufereta and Alicante's defensive area
Documentation & Methodology
Documentation, sources and methodology
The contents of this portal have been compiled through specialized bibliography, public records, institutional research sources, and authorized materials for cultural and educational dissemination.
José Luis Menéndez Fueyo
«Coastal Sentinels: Defense and Orchard Towers of Alicante»
Provincial Archaeological Museum of Alicante (MARQ)
José Manuel Pérez Burgos
«Direction of archaeological interventions and Integral Heritage management»
City Council of Alicante
Màrius Bevià i García and Santiago Varela Botella
«Architectural restoration projects and monographs on defensive architecture»
Heritage conservation architects
Antonio Campos Pardillos
«Topoguide of the Orchard Towers and educational cultural dissemination»
City Council of Alicante
Armando Alberola Romá
«The Tibi Dam and the irrigation system in the Alicante Orchard»
Juan Gil-Albert Alicante Institute of Culture
Research, Musealization, and Archive Credits
This portal gives special recognition to the scientific work of archaeologists José Luis Menéndez Fueyo and José Manuel Pérez Burgos, restoration architects such as Màrius Bevià i García, and archival records that have contributed to preserving the memory of Alicante's Orchard Towers.