Fortress Focardo rises on a promontory located south of the Gulf of Porto Azzurro. It was erected in 1678 by order of Don Fernando Faxardo, Viceroy and Captain General of the Kingdom of Naples, within the policy of autonomy and expansion of the new Neapolitan crown and to complete the defensive system that had its central bulwark in Fort S. Giacomo , to further guard the sea overlooking Portolongone (ancient name of Porto Azzurro). The fortification has a quadrangular bastioned plan. Originally equipped with a moat on the ground front, it has, on the sea side, the scarp ramparts that drop steeply for over thirty meters. THE! the fort could house a garrison of about fifty soldiers.
This is the inscription found at the entrance:
The fort, still owned by the military, was built in 1678 by the will of Fernando Fascardo, viceroy of Naples, and designed by Alessandro Piston, engineer of the Tuscan State Capitol. From 1863, the year the lighthouse was built, the building was inhabited by members of the Italian Navy.
Fort Focardo is located 3 km from Capoliveri on the extreme point of Cape Perla.