Monte Guardia is the highest peak on the island of Ponza, measuring more than 900 feet (280 meters) in altitude. Travelers to the island will spot a lonely ruin at the top of the peak that hearkens back to a forgotten form of technology used for communication. Il Semaforo was constructed during the 1800s around an older watchtower from the 1600-1700s. Nautical maps from the period label the site as the “telegraph.” At the time, an engineer by the name of Claude Chappe developed an early type of telegraphy, the…
