Torre Santa Caterina is located in a pinewood, 200 metres far from the sea and at an altitude of about 32 metres.

It was called Scorzone (a typical blacksnake of Salento) probably because of the sinuous shape of the rock that sustained it. Nowadays it is one of the southernmost square-based watchtower of those belonging to the territory of Nardò city. It is located in a central position, between Torre del Fiume to the south and Torre dell'Alto to the north.

History

In 1580 the Governor of the Terra d'Otranto asked the Royal Chamber of Naples to build at least six more towers in Salento. The building was definitively assigned in 1582 to Massenzio Gravili from Lecce. The Spaniard Pietro de Tecza was appointed supervisor of the work, but it took a long time to complete, and in 1608 the tower was still not finished. In the old cartography it is mentioned from the 17th century.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the acts of the notary Emanuele Bonvino from Nardò indicated the tower was a hospital for the quarantine of "Turks and Corsairs". About the end of the works some documents testify that the Santa Caterina Tower was up in 1613.