FORTEZZE MEDICEE
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Majestic walls built in 1548 by Cosme I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, to defend the city of Portoferraio.
The entrance to the Medici fortress is at the end of Via Guerrazzi, a street also known as Porta a Terra. These majestic ramparts were built in 1548 under the order of Cosme I, Grand Duke of Tuscany and one of the great figures of the Medici, to defend the city of Portoferraio, but also to control commercial traffic on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The ascent to the top of the fortifications is rewarded with beautiful views over the sea, the port, Napoleon Bonaparte's residence and its gardens.
Standing proudly above the sea, this stronghold of the ancient city of Cosmopoli ("the city of Cosimo di Medici"), arranged on four levels, represented an excellent defence, particularly against the terrible attacks of the Turks, turning Portoferraio into an island on an island. As proof, the city was the only one in the Elbe to resist the incursions of the fearsome Ottoman pirate Dragut, also known as "The Sword from Islam", in 1553. Fort Stella, Fort Falcone and the Linguella Tower are the main defensive structures of the medieval enclosure, built by the architects Bellucci and Camerini. Being among the most important in the Mediterranean, these fortresses were never conquered!
Today, benches, a restaurant and games for children allow you to spend pleasant moments, suspended between sky and sea, present and past, offering visitors an immersion in the illustrious history of the city.
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