Between the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century, the defense of the city of Livorno was entrusted to the powerful system of fortifications built around the inhabited area (the Fosso Reale, the Fortezza Nuova and the Fortezza Vecchia) and to a series of towers sighting and military outposts along the coast and inland.

Proceeding from north to south there were in fact the towers of Porto Pisano (like that of the Magnale), the tower of the Marzocco, the  Mulinaccio near the lazaretto of San Rocco, the fort of the Cavalleggeri (where today the Mascagni terrace opens), the Tower of Ardenza (which until the Second World War stood on the edge of the so-called Rotonda), the tower of Villa Conti, the one in Campo al Lupo (disappeared) and Montenero, the castle of Antignano, and finally, along the short stretch of coast of Il Romito, the towers of Maroccone or del Diavolo (integrated in the Boccale), Calafuria and San Salvatore (present Sonnino castle). The presence of three towers in the area of ​​Il Romito is due to the particularly jagged nature of the coast: in fact from each tower it was necessary to be able to see the adjacent one in such a way as to transmit, by means of fires, any warning signs to the city.

The tower of Calafuria was therefore inserted in a complex defensive system which from Livorno pushed along the southern coast of its current province. Its construction dates back to the sixteenth century and later, once its purely defensive functions had ceased, it was used by finance to control the coast. For this reason it was also restored at the beginning of the twentieth century with the reconstruction of the roof and perimeter gallery at the top, while the majestic bridge of the Tyrrhenian railway on the Calafuria gorge was built nearby.

Until the early 2000s, the tower hosted the studio of the labronic painter Alberto Fremura.