Torre Scibini

Torre Scibini is an odd, compelling palimpsest of stone and time. The tower rises from a base of squared limestone blocks, its upper body a rougher affair of rubble and plaster, capped with a flat terrace. But this is no simple medieval watchtower. It is built directly atop the walls of a semi-subterranean Byzantine church, a structure of squared calcarenite blocks enclosing a central sail vault and three apsidal basins. The contrast is instructive: the lower church is tidy, its stonework orderly; the tower above is more expedient, its small, irregular rubble patched together. The vault itself is entirely of this rougher material, springing from the circular base’s pendentives up to the keystone. Four arches, paired in twos and still of squared stone, complete the church’s narthex. The whole site reads like a conversation between two building traditions, one ambitious and liturgical, the other pragmatic and defensive, each leaving its mark on the other.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.