Discover Fortezza di Montalcino

The Fortezza di Montalcino is a stronghold of approximately pentagonal plan with a tower at each angle, in the southern part of the town.

Its construction was willed by the Sienese and begun in 1361 under the direction of the Sienese architects Mino Foresi and Domenico di Feo. On its completion in 1368 castellans were installed, the first being Francesco Sozzini.

The site was not empty. It already carried 13th-century structures and an ancient basilica dedicated to San Egidio, and several of these — the mastio di San Martino, the torrione di San Giovanni and the left nave of the basilica alone — were incorporated into the fortress as it was built.

The fortress saw many engagements, among them the siege of 1553, but the most consequential was the last. After the Sienese defeat at Scannagallo on 2 August 1554 and the surrender of Siena on 17 April 1555, part of the Sienese took refuge here and gave life to the Repubblica di Siena riparata in Montalcino. Despite every effort, Montalcino and its fortress had to surrender on 31 July 1559.

The bastione di San Giovanni was built after that surrender, and today carries a small park planted with holm oaks — the tree that probably gives Montalcino its name.

The Fortezza is a piece of 14th-century military engineering whose two most interesting features are its plan and its wall section.

The pentagon

The fortress "presents a structure unprecedented for the period of its construction", because it was given a pentagonal plan where earlier fortifications used a square one, with a tower at each angle. The advantage of breaking the square is coverage: five faces and five corner towers leave less wall that cannot be swept by fire from a tower, and no long straight run for a besieger to work along unobserved.

The scarp, and what it was for

This is the detail worth standing still for. The walls and towers rise from a muro a scarpa — a battered, outward-sloping base — pierced at its foot by numerous loopholes. Along the cammino di ronda above are many machicolations.

The two work together. Stones dropped through a machicolation reached considerable speed under gravity, and on striking the scarp at the base of the wall they changed trajectory into a horizontal motion, scything the attackers in their path. A vertical drop only hits what is directly below; a drop onto a slope becomes a horizontal sweep along the whole foot of the wall. The batter is a weapon system, and almost nobody looking at a sloping castle wall realises it.

The entrance

A single ramp climbs to the Porta, which stands beside the north-west tower. One approach, overlooked by a tower, at the end of a climb.

The elements, and the swallowed buildings

Clockwise: the Porta; the chapel against the north wall; the north-east, east and south-east towers, the last flanked by the mastio di San Martino; the mastio or cassero in the south, from which the wall-walk running the whole perimeter is entered; and the torrione di San Giovanni to the west.

Two of those — the mastio di San Martino and the torrione di San Giovanni — are 13th-century structures that predate the fortress and were built into it, as was the left nave of the basilica of San Egidio. The fortress is therefore not a single design but a pentagon drawn around existing towers and half a church.

The bastion

The bastione di San Giovanni, to the south-west, sits outside the walls and connects by a door. It came after the surrender of 1559 — which is to say the fortress received its most modern piece of fortification only once it had already lost.

The fortress was built around things that were already standing, which is why its plan is irregular and its oldest parts are older than it is.

What was on the hill first

Before construction the site carried 13th-century structures and an ancient basilica dedicated to San Egidio. Rather than clear them, the builders incorporated them: the mastio di San Martino, the torrione di San Giovanni and the left nave of the basilica alone were taken into the new walls.

Half a church inside a fortress is an unusual survival, and it explains the fortress's shape: a pentagon approximately rather than exactly, because the line had to meet towers and a nave that were fixed before the first new stone was laid.

Built 1361 to 1368

Construction was willed by the Sienese and begun in 1361 under Mino Foresi and Domenico di Feo — a named pair of Sienese architects, which is unusual documentation for a provincial castle of this date. Seven years later, in 1368, it was complete and castellans were installed, the first being Francesco Sozzini.

The pentagonal decision

The fabric's single most important feature was settled at the outset: a pentagonal plan rather than the square plan used by earlier fortifications, with a tower at every angle, and a scarped base whose slope converted dropped stones into horizontal fire along the wall foot.

What four years of siege did not change

Between the refuge of 1555 and the surrender of 31 July 1559 this was the seat of a state under blockade, and the fabric held: the walls that were finished in 1368 were still doing their job one hundred and ninety years later.

The last addition, after the defeat

The bastione di San Giovanni was built after the surrender of 31 July 1559, outside the walls to the south-west and linked by a door. A bastion is the modern answer to gunpowder, and this one arrived after the fortress had already been given up — the usual order of military engineering reversed.

Becoming a garden

The bastion now carries a small park planted as a garden of holm oaks — lecci, the tree that probably gives Montalcino its name. The newest military work on the site is now its quietest corner.

What actually happened here?

The Republic of Siena ended here. The Sienese were beaten at Scannagallo on 2 August 1554, Siena surrendered on 17 April 1555, and part of the Sienese withdrew to Montalcino — walled, and holding this fortress — to constitute the Repubblica di Siena riparata in Montalcino. It held out until 31 July 1559.

Did the fortress ever fall?

Yes, on 31 July 1559. This is worth stating because sources disagree: the English Wikipedia article on Montalcino says the fortress "never submitted", but the detailed Italian article on the fortress states that "Montalcino and its fortress had to surrender on 31 July 1559" — and dates the bastione di San Giovanni to after that surrender, which corroborates it. We follow the dated account.

Why is it pentagonal?

Deliberately, and it was unprecedented for its date: earlier fortifications used a square plan, and this one was given five sides with a tower at each angle, which leaves less wall that a tower cannot cover. The shape is only approximately pentagonal because the walls had to be drawn around towers and half a church that were already there.

Why do the walls slope outward at the bottom?

Because the slope is a weapon. Stones dropped through the machicolations on the wall-walk gathered speed, struck the scarp at the base, and changed direction into a horizontal path, scything along the foot of the wall through anyone standing there. A vertical drop hits only what is directly beneath; a drop onto a batter sweeps the whole wall base.

Who built it, and when?

It was willed by the Sienese, begun in 1361 under the Sienese architects Mino Foresi and Domenico di Feo, and completed in 1368, when castellans were installed — the first being Francesco Sozzini.

Is there really part of a church inside?

Yes. The site already held 13th-century structures and an ancient basilica dedicated to San Egidio, and the builders incorporated them: the mastio di San Martino, the torrione di San Giovanni and the left nave of the basilica were taken into the fortress walls.

What are the opening hours and the price?

Neither is published anywhere we can verify, so this page states none. Go in the morning and ask on the spot, or call the Comune di Montalcino on 0577 80441. The exterior — the pentagon, the towers, the scarp, the machicolations — reads perfectly well from outside and costs nothing, and the bastione's holm-oak garden is outside the walls. There is also an enoteca inside the fortress.

What is the tunnel story?

A legend, and recorded as one. Still current in the mid-20th century, it held that a gallery ran from the cellars of the torrione di San Giovanni — passable even by mule-drawn carts — to a farmhouse across the valley, bringing in the provisions that let the defenders hold out. An earthquake is said to have partly collapsed it. There is no claim here that it existed.