Torre della Tonnara dell'Ursa
The toponym could be a corruption in Sicilian of the Arabic toponym "marsah”¸ which means port. In fact, it is a fairly recurrent toponym in Sicily and the best known example is Marsala, "the port of Allah", that is, since the ruins of a port are not evident "in situ", and given the shallow waters, it could derive from the Arabic toponym "irsa”Which means more simply, anchoring, docking.
The tower stands in the locality of Orsa Fund which is located on the extreme tip of a low and rocky peninsula that forms a loop to the east with a small bay with a shallow seabed, in the province of Palermo falling into the municipal area of Cinisi.
The tonnara and the tower can be reached by following a small service road shortly after the Marina di Cinisi junction of the Palermo - Mazara del Vallo motorway, or following the branch for Punta Raisi in the direction of Falcone and Borsellino Airport at the Villagrazia di Carini junction. .
The “Tonnara dell'Orsa” stop of the Palermo - Airport subway has not been in operation since its virtual inauguration, although it is perfectly complete and functional. The internal road that once connected the tower with Cinisi now stops right at the car park serving the subway station. Continuing on foot you can use a pedestrian underpass below the motorway and reach the tower (attention: in winter it is often flooded).
The whole complex is owned by the Municipality of Cinisi, which has provisionally granted some rooms to the local section of Legambiente which can be contacted for a possible guided tour.
Source: Wikipedia
Card insertion: Ignazio Caloggero
Information contributions: Web
Photo: Google
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