The Scola Building is a former military building located just beyond the northeastern tip of Palmaria (island) in Porto Venere, in the province of La Spezia, Italy. The tower is pentagonal in shape with an average wall thickness of about 4 feet, which accommodates up to eight people (eight soldiers, including a captain and a master “bombardero”) and ten cannons, and guards the Bay of Palmaria. During the Napoleonic Wars, it was damaged by the British, leaving it in a state of total neglect for the first half of the 19th century. Used for target practice by the Marina Militare and scheduled for demolition in 1915, it was saved by catching the interest of a local official at the Ministry of Education, and it was eventually decided to convert the tower to a lighthouse. The Scola Building is a former military building located just beyond the northeastern tip of Palmaria (island) in Porto Venere, in the province of La Spezia, Italy. The tower is pentagonal in shape with an average wall thickness of about 4 feet, which accommodates up to eight people (eight soldiers, including a captain and a master “bombardero”) and ten cannons, and guards the Bay of Palmaria. During the Napoleonic Wars, it was damaged by the British, leaving it in a state of total neglect for the first half of the 19th century. Used for target practice by the Marina Militare and scheduled for demolition in 1915, it was saved by catching the interest of a local official at the Ministry of Education, and it was eventually decided to convert the tower to a lighthouse.