|
Walls Of Grosseto
The Walls of Grosseto (), known also as Medicean Walls (), are a series of defensive brick walls surrounding the city of Grosseto in Tuscany, Italy. The city walls, spanning approximately 3 kilometers, form a hexagonal shape and are a notable example of late-Renaissance bastion fort architecture, featuring six bastions (Rimembranza, Fortezza, Maiano, Cavallerizza, Molino a Vento, Garibaldi), a citadel, and gates. The fortifications were commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici, after the conquest of the Republic of Siena and its annexation to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The walls were designed by engineer-architect Baldassarre Lanci in 1564. Construction began in 1565 and was completed in 1593. During the 19th century, under the rule of Leopold II, the walkways of the walls were demilitarized and transformed into gardens and promenades. The Renaissance walls of Grosseto incorporate two medieval structures from the old Sienese fortifications: Porta Vecchia and the Cassero Senese. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grosseto
Grosseto () is a city and a ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the province of Grosseto and the main city of the Maremma region. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river. It is the most populous city in Maremma, with 82,284 inhabitants. The comune of Grosseto includes the ''frazioni'' of Marina di Grosseto, the largest one, Roselle, Principina a Mare, Principina Terra, Montepescali, Braccagni, Istia d'Ombrone, Batignano, Alberese and Rispescia. History The origins of Grosseto can be traced back to the High Middle Ages. It was first mentioned in 803 as a fief of the Counts Aldobrandeschi, in a document recording the assignment of St. George's Church to Ildebrando degli Aldobrandeschi, whose successors were counts of the Grossetana Mark until the end of the 12th century. Grosseto steadily grew in importance, owing to the decline of Rusellae and Vetulonia until it was one of the princip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Porta Vecchia
Porta Vecchia () is the oldest city gate in the walls of Grosseto, located at the southern corner of the fortifications. Together with the Cassero Senese, it is one of the two surviving architectural elements from the 14th-century city walls, having endured the extensive reconstruction work carried out by the Medici in the late 16th century. History Porta Vecchia, dating back to the 14th century, was the southern gateway to the medieval walls of Grosseto and was originally known as Porta Cittadina. The gateway featured a defensive tower known as a "cassero".Celuzza, Papa (2013): 172. During the 16th century, when the Medici constructed new fortifications for the city (1565–1593), Porta Vecchia was preserved and incorporated into the new walls. Renamed Porta Reale, it served as the sole entrance to the city for over two centuries, central to all major roads. A second entrance, Porta Nuova, was only added in 1755 at the northern end of the city. Between 1848 and 1850 the fortifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortifications In Italy
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ("strong") and ("to make"). From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large cyclopean stone walls fitted without mortar had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek '' phrourion'' was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted as a border gu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buildings And Structures In Grosseto
A building or edifice is an enclosed structure with a roof, walls and windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for numerous factors, from building materials available, to weather conditions, land prices, ground conditions, specific uses, prestige, and aesthetic reasons. To better understand the concept, see ''Nonbuilding structure'' for contrast. Buildings serve several societal needs – occupancy, primarily as shelter from weather, security, living space, privacy, to store belongings, and to comfortably live and work. A building as a shelter represents a physical separation of the human habitat (a place of comfort and safety) from the ''outside'' (a place that may be harsh and harmful at times). buildings have been objects or canvasses of much artistic expression. In recent years, interest in sustainable planning and building practi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
City Walls In Italy
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agreed definition of the lower boundary for their size. In a narrower sense, a city can be defined as a permanent and Urban density, densely populated place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. Cities generally have extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, Public utilities, utilities, land use, Manufacturing, production of goods, and communication. Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organisations, government organizations, and businesses, sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving the efficiency of goods and service distribution. Historically, city dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Medici
The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo de' Medici, Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of Tuscany, and prospered gradually in trade until it was able to fund the Medici Bank. This bank was the largest in Europe in the 15th century and facilitated the Medicis' rise to political power in Florence, although they officially remained citizens rather than monarchs until the 16th century. In 1532, the family acquired the hereditary title Duke of Florence. In 1569, the duchy was elevated to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany after territorial expansion. The Medici ruled the Grand Duchy from its inception under the builder Cosimo I de' Medici, Cosimo I until 1737, with the death of Gian Gastone de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Gian Gastone de' Medici. The Medici produced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bastion Fort
A bastion fort or ''trace italienne'' (a phrase derived from non-standard French, meaning 'Italian outline') is a fortification in a style developed during the early modern period in response to the ascendancy of gunpowder weapons such as cannon, which rendered earlier medieval approaches to fortification obsolete. It appeared in the mid-fifteenth century in Italy. Some types, especially when combined with ravelins and other outworks, resembled the related star fort of the same era. The design of the fort is normally a polygon with bastions at the corners of the walls. These outcroppings eliminated protected blind spots, called "dead zones", and allowed fire along the curtain wall from positions protected from direct fire. Many bastion forts also feature cavaliers, which are raised secondary structures based entirely inside the primary structure. Origins Their predecessors, medieval fortresses, were usually placed on high hills. From there, arrows were shot at the ene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bombing Of Grosseto In World War II
The bombing of Grosseto took place on 26 April 1943, day of Easter Monday, during World War II. Aimed at disabling the city's air base, it resulted instead in heavy damage to the city itself and at least 134 civilian casualties. History The Grosseto Air Base was considered by the Allies to be of strategic importance for operations in North Africa, since the attacks on British ships in the western Mediterranean Sea departed from there. The base was also the site of a torpedo-bomber training school of the Luftwaffe's Kampfgeschwader 102 unit and the arrival of the Messerschmitts Me 323 employed in the defense of Tunisia. This led to several Allied air raids aimed at its destruction. The first raid took place on 26 April 1943, day of Easter Monday, when 48 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress of the Twelfth Air Force of the United States Army took off from airfields in Algeria and reached Grosseto, Tuscany. For unknown reasons, 19 of the 48 military planes dropped 2,000 cluster bombs on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Casa Del Fascio (Grosseto)
The former Casa del Fascio (Fascist House), also known as Palazzo Littorio, is located in the center of Grosseto, in Piazza del Popolo. The building is a hybrid example of eclecticism and Italian Rationalism typical of the Fascist era. It forms the southern side of Piazza del Popolo, situated between the Rimembranza Bastion and the Porta Nuova gateway. The site where the building stands was once crossed by a section of the Medicean walls of Grosseto, which were demolished between 1939 and 1941. It currently houses the Grosseto headquarters of the Guardia di Finanza. History The design for the Casa del Fascio in Grosseto was proposed in 1925 by engineer Renato Della Rocca, with the building officially inaugurated in 1927. It exemplified the eclectic style and architectural elements characteristic of early 20th-century. In 1929, Della Rocca also designed the adjacent Corporations' Building, maintaining the same architectural language.Celuzza, Papa (2013): 161–162. The building a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fascist Italy
Fascist Italy () is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. The Italian Fascists imposed totalitarian rule and crushed political opposition, while simultaneously promoting Modernization theory, economic modernization, traditional social values and a rapprochement with the Roman Catholic Church. According to historian Stanley G. Payne, "[the] Fascist government passed through several relatively distinct phases". The first phase (1922–1925) was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, albeit with a "legally-organized executive dictatorship". In foreign policy, Mussolini ordered the pacification of Libya against rebels in the Italian colonies of Italian Tripolitania, Tripolitania and Italian Cyrenaica, Cyrenaica (eventually unified in Italian Libya), inflicted the Corfu incident, bombing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Porta Corsica
Porta Corsica is a gate along the south-western section of the city walls of Grosseto. Its name is derived from the geographical reference point in that direction, across the sea, towards which the gate faces. It is situated along the stretch of the city wall that connects the Cavallerizza Bastion to the Molino a Vento Bastion. History The presence of a western city gate is documented in the medieval city walls of Grosseto, known as Porta di San Michele, named after a nearby church dedicated to Saint Michael. This gate was demolished in the 16th century when the Grand Duchy of Tuscany built the new Medici walls (1565–1593), and a new bastion, the Bastion of San Michele, was constructed on its site. For over two centuries, Grosseto had only one access point, the Porta Reale (later renamed Porta Vecchia) on the southern side of the walls, until Porta Nuova was opened in 1755 on the northern side. With the city's population growth and urban expansion outside the walls at the tur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices. In older fortifications, such as hillforts, they are usually referred to simply as ditches, although the function is similar. In later periods, moats or water defences may be largely ornamental. They could also act as a sewer. Historical use Ancient Some of the earliest evidence of moats has been uncovered around ancient Egyptian fortresses. One example is at Buhen, a settlement excavated in Nubia. Other evidence of ancient moats is found in the ruins of Babylon, and in reliefs from ancient Egypt, Assyria, and other cultures in the region. Evidence of early moats around settlements has been discovered in many archaeological sites throughout Southeast Asia, including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
