The Torre Medicea stands on the western headland of the harbour, a squat 16th-century watchtower built by the Medici when they controlled Elba and needed to defend the coast against Barbary pirate raids. The tower is not large, but its position — directly on the water, commanding the approach to the harbour — makes it a distinctive landmark and a useful reference point when you are trying to get your bearings in the town.
You can walk out to the tower on the harbour arm and look back at the town and the mountains rising behind it. In the late afternoon the light falls nicely on both the tower and the bay. It is not a museum or an official attraction — just an old fortification that has outlasted its purpose and become part of the landscape.