The tower belongs to the system of Vrsar fortifications, and is one of the two that have been preserved. It was built in the Middle Ages in the Romanesque style and restored in 2017. Following the restoration, it was intended to serve as "Casanova’s sanctuary” - contemporary information and multimedia centre documenting the sojourn of G. Casanova in Vrsar in the 1740s.
Giacomo Casanova stayed twice in Vrsar. Both stays – the first in 1743 and the second in 1744 - are documented in his “Memoirs”.
Vrsar is famous for its association with Giacomo Casanova, who spent some time here twice. Both stays – the first in 1743 and the second in 1744 – were more coincidental than intentional, and are documented in his “Memoirs”. As he stated himself, he first visited Vrsar for three days in August 1743, when he was still a poor and unknown priest, while the second time he arrived in Vrsar as a soldier during his travels from the Venetian island of Malamocco, when his ship anchored in the Vrsar quayside in order to restock on ballast at night. The ship he travelled on transported 24 cannons and 200 Slavonic soldiers. Casanova described Vrsar as a derelict settlement he first visited it as an man of no distinction, and later as an unrecognisable man – in a shiny military uniform, believing that no one would recognise him.
The episode mentions Casanova’s adventure involving a girl from Vrsar, who was a servant of Don Girolamo’s.
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