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The walls, the gateways and
the fortress
THE
WALLS
The ring of walls , today a bit short
of 3 kilometers, was constructed by the Etruscans around the end
of the fifth century B.C. and can be seen at the base of the current
day walls. It has a rectangular form with the two greater sides
facing the north and south, the shorter sides face east and west.
The short west side is very well preserved and the site of a recent
re-opening and restoration of the Etruscan gateway with unique double
barrel-vaulted portals. It follows within the Etruscan perimeters.
The first length of the larger north side from Porta Santa Maria
follows the course of the Etruscan perimeter until the area above
Porta Colonia where it reveals a sewer spout which dates back to
the time of construction of the original wall. The remainder of
the northern length of wall was moved slightly toward the direction
of a place calle Torre Mozza. There are consistent traces and evidence
of this old perimeter wall and more about this place still remains
to be discovered. It is likely that there was a temple or a fortification
and an entry gate to the city (Porta di Montagna or Augurata?) at
this point. The number and the positions of the Etruscan gateways
is still to be determined.
THE
GATEWAYS
In the third century after the Roman
conquest, the damaged parts of the walls were reconstructed and
raised in height. Four gateways were placed at the exits from the
Roman city, from the decumano (the principal east-west roman road)
Porta Santa Maria and Porta San Domenico (also called Peccioverardi)
and from the cardo (principal north-south Roman axis road) Porta
Sant'Agostino and Porta Colonia.
In the middle ages the walls were heavily damaged during the attack
of 1258, they were subsequently reconstructed and repristined with
the help from the people of Perugia and most of all from the Sienese.
The two-opening Etruscan gateway was closed (Porta Bacarelli) and
other gateways were opened: Porta Montanina (originally called San
Cristoforo), Porta Berarda and Porta San Giorgio, the last two were
closed-up probably at the beginning of the seventeenth century.
In 1642, the period of the war for the Duke of Castro, the walls
on the west side were further reinforced under the gradducale government
as we are informed by an inscription in marble placed above the
archway of the Porta Bifora.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century the existing wall was
opened to form Porta Santa Margherita to give access to the sanctuary
nearby.
THE
FORTRESS
In the second half of the the 12550's,
precisely in 1556, on the north east corner of the rectangular city
walls, at its highest point, the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo
I had a fortress constructed. It rose from structures which had
been fortifications during Etruscan, Roman and Medieval times. The
last having been destroyed in the sack of 1258. The fortress was
the work of Gabrio Serbelloni, nephew of Pope Pius IV and Franceso
Laparelli of Cortona.
The structure is trapezoidal in shape with four large bastions.
It continues to be a beautiful example of military architecture
of the 1500's. After its reconstruction in modern times there is
no news of battles which took place in it.
Recently restored it now is the site of art exhibitions and the
"Centro Studi e Documentazioni sulla Civiltà Contadina
della Valdichiana e Trasimeno", a research center dedicated
to the study of the peasant or folk history of the Valdichiana and
Lake Trasimene areas.
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