The tower was built in 1307, during the Pisan domination of the city, by the Sardinian architect Giovanni Capula, who had also designed the Torre di San Pancrazio two years earlier, as well as the Torre dell'Aquila, partly destroyed in the 18th century and now incorporated in Palazzo Boyl. The tower was part of the city's fortifications in view of the imminent Aragonese invasion of the island, but was damaged in 1708 by English bombing, in 1717 by Spanish cannons, and finally lost its top part in 1793 during a French attack.