Fortezza Medicea

Siena’s Fortezza Medicea (the Medici Fortress sometimes called the Fort of Saint Barbara) is a fort built in the city between 1561 and 1563 on the orders of Duke Cosimo, a few years before he became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany.

The fortress is positioned on the northern edge of the central Siena in the Terzo of Camollia, next to the neighborhood of San Prospero, and since 1923 has overlooked the city's Artemio Franchi/Montepaschi Arena.

Text adapted from “Fortezza Medicea (Siena)” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fortezza Medicea ranks #3,301 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #266 of the 487 mapped in Italy. Founded 1561, it is older than 38% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 755 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,143 times in the last 60 days, more than 68% of the atlas. 6 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Florence, 50 km away. It is one of the 35 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Tuscany. See how Italy compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗