Ansaldo Tower
VISITING HOURS:
Visits from Monday to Thursday from 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The tower is massive on the ground floor. The interior was accessed by a manual staircase leading to the first floor. This improved the defence of the fortress in case of attack. From the first floor you can go up to the first floor and from there to the roof terrace. The base is made of plastered masonry and the corners are made of reinforced ashlars. The tower has several loopholes at different levels on all its façades. There is a hermitage in the complex that preserves paintings with allegories of divine justice, the theological virtues and several angels.
The residential building was articulated by a large vestibule that still has two semicircular arches. To the left is a storeroom that was also used as a stable. At the back of the ground floor were the service quarters of the house. The upper space was intended for the lords of the estate. There is a semi-basement that preserves the wine cellar, a very important space where many wines were produced. At the back of the house there was a large water reservoir, corrals and several oil mills.
The estate was completed with extensive orchards of olive, carob, fig, almond and fruit trees, irrigated with water from the Ansaldo irrigation channel, part of the network of irrigation channels in the Huerta de Alicante.
The estate is named after the Ansaldo family, who came from Genoa and first arrived in Alicante during the reconquest in the 13th century, at which time they received several possessions in Almoradí. In the 15th century, part of the family emigrated to America and another part to Cartagena (Murcia), attracted by the socio-economic conditions of the city. In the 17th century, the family settled definitively in Alicante, where they dedicated themselves to commercial activity, especially the export of wines.
Currently, there are different proposals from the municipality for the restoration and enhancement of the Ansaldo Estate as a space for cultural use, or as an interpretation centre for the Torres de la Huerta. The complex has been declared an Asset of Cultural Interest.
Did you know that...?
Juan AgustÃn Ansaldo, the founder of the estate, was a royal visitor and therefore had numerous possessions throughout the province and in the capital. Such was his status that he earned the right to be buried in the then Collegiate Church of San Nicolás in Alicante. The son of D. Juan Agustín, called D. Henrique, reached the position of Jurat en Cap del Consell de la ciutat in Alicante. The family lineage is full of illustrious characters, such as Agustín Ansaldo, the King’s prosecutor in the Huerta de Alicante in the 18th century. Another distinguished member of the family was Mr. Ignacio Ansaldo, who became a captain of the urban militias in the War of Independence in
In 1852 he was born on the Ansaldo estate of Manuel Gómiz, who was to become mayor of Alicante between 1890 and 1893. Manuel was a descendant of the family, but the fact that he was born on the estate was a determining factor in his being nicknamed Ansaldo. The city of Alicante dedicated a promenade by the sea to him in 1893. A plaque was placed on the estate in memory of this personage, which no longer exists. The Sr. Gómiz was one of the largest taxpayers in the province of Alicante. In 1977, Mr. Manuel Montesinos Gómiz, one of the last descendants of the family and mayor of Alicante in the post-war period, sold the estate to a property developer.
The complex is now municipally owned. Numerous citizens’ associations, such as Camins Sant Joan d’Alacant and Lloixa, contribute through guided tours and specialised publications to keeping his memory alive. The future of Finca Ansaldo also depends on the committed actions of anonymous citizens. Walk around Sant Joan d’Alacant and be sure to visit what was once Finca Ansaldo.