Medieval watchtower rises above olive trees at Monteriggioni in Tuscany, Italy, a hilltop town encircled by thick defensive walls and 14 watchtowers, built in the 1300s by Siena as protection of its borders against its bitter rival, Florence.
Monteriggioni, Tuscany, Italy: olive trees grow on the slope below one of the 14 medieval watchtowers rising at regular intervals along the early 13th century wall that once protected this hilltop citadel, built by the city of Siena, from attacks by Florence, the rival Tuscan city state it fought for centuries. The encircling wall runs for about 570 m (1,870 ft) and is pierced by two medieval gateways, the southern Porta Romea or Porta Franca, facing towards Rome, and the Porta Fiorentina, facing Florence. Siena founded Monteriggioni in 1213 to prevent attacks by Florentine forces along the Via Francigena pilgrimage route. About 100 years after its foundation, Tuscan poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) likened Monteriggioni's ring of towers to giants guarding Hell's Infernal Abyss. In Canto 31 of his Inferno, part of the Divine Comedy, he wrote: "As with circling round Of turrets, Monteriggioni crowns his walls; E’en thus the shore, encompassing the abyss, Was turreted with giants, half their length Uprearing, horrible, whom Jove from heaven Yet threatens, when his muttering thunder rolls." The town's strategic location between the warring cities meant that the walls had to withstand repeated attacks - although its defenders were also aided by 'charcoal pits' outside the walls, which they could set alight. It finally surrendered to Florence in 1554 without a fight, due to treachery by garrison commander, Giovannino Zeti.
Size: 2668px × 4010px
Location: Monteriggioni, Tuscany, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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