Baldassarre Giardina’s book is the fruit of many years of research. Since the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century and the historical and archaeological studies of E. Allard, L.A. Veitmeyer and He. Thiersch, little work has been done on the subject of lighthouses. No up-to-date or systematic scholarly research has been produced until now. Drawing on the rich accumulation of existing research, the author has in addition brought together evidence from historical and literary sources from the ancient, medieval and modern periods. Together with this, he has researched new evidence, data and scientific discoveries, and from these he has assembled a framework that sheds light on hitherto unpublished aspects of these structures, identifying their archaeological and typological characteristics. With this book, the author has given us a systematic exploration of the subject, its results arranged in such a way as to demonstrate the earliest form of these structures and their evolution in time. Text in English and Italian.