Nestled among the lush hills of the Tuscan countryside, along the wooded paths of the Via Francigena, lies the picturesque village of Monteriggioni. Just a stone’s throw from Siena, the village was once an impregnable fortress, so well entrenched that it was never conquered by force. The last bastion of ancient and valiant resistance, Monteriggioni witnessed sieges, bloody clashes and perpetual rivalries. Although the town stood as a stronghold of freedom, it finally had to surrender due to betrayal.
The building of Monteriggioni
Monteriggioni rose on a high hill, the Mount Ala, in a strategic position that allowed it to dominate the Elsa and Staggia Valleys. Guelfo da Porcari, podestà of the Republic of Siena, had the city built between 1213 and 1219. It lies in the heart of the Via Francigena, a pilgrimage route leading to Rome and the Holy Land. The village was fortified with towers and walls so that, from the top of the hill, the Sienese could repel sieges by their rivals in Florence.
[…] for, as upon its round enclosing walls
Dante, The Divine Comedy, Inferno, XXXI, Translation by Courtney Langdon, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1918
Montereggione crowns itself with towers;
thus o’er the margin which surrounds the well
with one half of their bodies towered up
those frightful Giants, whom, when from the sky
he thunders, Jupiter is threatening still.
The fortification of the village of Monteriggioni
The mighty city wall, which is 20 metres high, 2 metres wide and 570 metres long, followed the natural contours of the hillside. It still surrounds the village today. The walls have fourteen defensive towers and a patrol walkway, and had two gateways. A deep moat surrounded Monteriggioni. If necessary, the soldiers of the garrison could set fire to the coal to repel enemy assaults.
We do not know if there were any drawbridges. The two main entrances, Porta Franca facing Siena and Porta San Giovanni facing Florence, were secured with thick wooden and iron portcullises operated by pulleys. In particular, a mighty defensive structure called rivellino (ravelin) protected Porta San Giovanni. This independent, temporary fortification acted as a kind of protective tower.
The urban center
Monteriggioni’s town centre, with its distinctive Piazza Roma, was home to between one hundred and one hundred and fifty families. Over the centuries, the town has remained almost unchanged. The simple Church of Santa Maria Assunta overlooks the square. Constructed from 1213 onwards1, the building is made of golden travertine and brick, and has grown in importance over the centuries.
The church of Santa Maria Assunta is Romanesque in style, with a single nave and Gothic additions. The gabled façade opens onto a single, very austere portal, surmounted by a pointed arch. A small circular rose window embellishes the upper part.
According to a local legend, there was once a secret passage that led from a well in Piazza Roma in Monteriggioni to the underground tunnels that run through the city of Siena, the “bottini”.
The conquest of Monteriggioni village
Monteriggioni was so well defended that the Florentines attempted to conquer it numerous times, but failed. All of the sieges carried out since 1244 broke against its impenetrable walls. Even after Siena’s heavy defeat at Colle di Val d’Elsa in 1269, Monteriggioni remained unconquered. In 1526, Florence besieged the village again, deploying more than 2,000 infantrymen and 500 horsemen, but without success.
However, after three hundred years of valiant battles, Monteriggioni fell due to the betrayal of its own captain. On 28 April 1554, the commander of the garrison, Giovannino Zeti, opened the gates and surrendered the village to Gian Giacomo Medici, Marquis of Melegnano, the enemy2. Following the loss of Monteriggioni, Siena also capitulated, and the Florentines annexed its territory. All of Monteriggioni’s inhabitants were taken to Florence as slaves. We do not know whether Giovannino Zeti was corrupt or simply chose not to fight against the enemy’s superiority3. It is said that, in the evening when shadows grow long, a heart-rending cry can occasionally be heard in the centre of Piazza Roma in Monteriggioni: the Captain Zeti still cries out for vengeance.
Samuele Corrente Naso
Notes
- A. Lisini, Inventario delle pergamene conservate nel Diplomatico dall’anno 736 all’anno 1250, Lazzeri, Siena, 1908. ↩︎
- P. Cammarosano, Monteriggioni. Storia, architettura, paesaggio, Electa, Milano, 1983. ↩︎
- M. Merlo, Monteriggioni in prima linea, in D. Balestracci, Monteriggioniottocento 1214-2014, atti del convegno, Abbadia a Isola 17 ottobre 2014, Betti, Siena, 2015. ↩︎
