Castle of the Week 8 - Monteriggione
Monteriggioni is slightly different from the previous Castles
of the Week as it is a medieval walled town. It is in
Tuscany, Italy, about 10km north of the city of Siena and its
‘round enclosure’ is referred to in Dante’s
Divine Comedy.
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It was built between 1213 and 1219 on a natural low hill
overlooking the Cassia Road and subsequently strengthened in
1260. Its position enabled it to control the valleys towards
Florence, the traditional enemy of the Sienese, which was
trying to expand its boundaries at the time. Although the
hill is natural, it looks like an artificial motte. The walls
are almost perfectly circular, using the hill’s
contours. The housing is well separated from the walls by a
‘territory of respect’ although when the
fortifications were built the town was more densely populated
so the separation band was much narrower. In the 14th century
there were at least 150 families living there with a total of
about 600 inhabitants.
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The only major change over the years was at the beginning of
the 16th century when the towers were lowered and earth
banked up at the base of the walls because of the advent of
cannons and guns. Legend has it that the villagers themselves
destroyed the tops of the towers to prevent debris falling on
their houses if they were attacked. The castle changed hands
many times between Florence & Siena until 1554 when
Giovanni Zeti of Florence sold it without a fight to the
Marquis of Maragliano from the Medici family. Zeti is still
referred to as ‘the traitor Zeti’ by people from
the oldest families still living there today.
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Nowadays the walls are nearly intact and are about 570 metres
long and 20 meters high with 14 towers and two gates. The
Romea gate on the Siena side is in a tower and the St
Giovanni gate on the Florence side in the curtain wall. There
are also traces of a third gate. The tops of the towers have
been rebuilt this century, but just as a façade to
recreate the original view of the town from outside and the
walls are floodlit at night.
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Inside is a well preserved medieval town. Just inside the
walls are vegetable gardens belonging to the villagers. These
were much used in medieval times during sieges when they grew
potatoes and onions. They also had chickens and rabbits. Next
are the houses and in the middle a small square and a Gothic
Romanesque church dating from the end of the 14th century.
The church has a belfry which, as well as calling villagers
to their devotions three times a day, was rung to advise of
attacks. There are now many wine shops selling the local
Chianti wine and antique shops.
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Written by GillB*.
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