Coursed rubble rises above smoother blocks of stone in the upper stages of the watchtower above the Porta Romea or Porta Franca, southern entrance to the hilltop fortress of Monteriggioni, Tuscany, Italy. The town was founded by Siena in 1213 against Florence, its bitter enemy in wars that lasted for several medieval centuries.
Monteriggioni, Tuscany, Italy: coursed rubble replaces smoother ashlar stone blocks in the upper stages of the watchtower above the early-13th century Porta Romea or Porta Franca, southern gateway to the walled town founded by Siena in 1213 as a northern bulwark against attacks on its territory by its deadly rival, Florence. The watchtower is one of 14 spaced equally around the town wall, which runs for about 570 m (1,870 ft) and is also pierced by a northern gateway facing towards Florence, the Porta Fiorentina. About 100 years after the town was built, 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 Latin inscription on a medieval plaque embedded in the gateway's exterior face records Monteriggioni's foundation in 1213. The hilltop citadel's strategic location between the two warring city states meant that the walls had to withstand repeated attacks - although its defence was also aided by 'charcoal pits' outside the walls, which could be set alight by the garrison. It finally surrendered to Florence in 1554 without a fight, when traitorous commander Giovannino Zeti handed the town keys over to enemy troops.
Size: 2832px × 4256px
Location: Monteriggioni, Tuscany, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1200s, 1213-19, 13th, 14, 31, abyss, alighieri, ashlar, betrayal, blocks, blue, built, canto, century, citadel, cloudless, comedy, coursed, , dante, dantes, deep, defences, divine, engineering, europe, european, florence, fortifications, fortified, fortress, foundation, franca, gateway, ghibellines, giants, giovannino, guelphs, hell, hilltop, infernal, inferno, italian, italy, kerr, medieval, military, monteriggioni, poet, porta, province, ring, romea, rubble, siena, sienese, sky, southern, stone, stronghold, surrender, terence, tower, towers, town, traitor, treachery, turreted, tuscan, tuscany, vision, walled, war, warfare, wars, watchtowers, zeti
