The Old Fortress of Livorno () is a castle in Livorno, Italy. The Old Fortress is a successor building to a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

fort built by the city of Pisa in the location of an older keep built by

Countess Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Matilda of Tuscany in the 11th century. The 11th century tower was incorporated inside the fort built by the Pisans. The castle has been described as a "symbol of Medicean Livorno". The fort is located at the Medicean ''Darsena'', or old dock of the port of Livorno, built by the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...

family. The ceremony proclaiming Livorno a city took place inside the fortress on 19 March 1606.

History

The plans to build the castle started with

Cosimo I de' Medici Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second Duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Life Rise to power Cosimo was born in Florence on 12 ...

in 1519 and the completion of the structure happened under the rule of Alessandro de' Medici in 1534. According to one source, the castle was built between 1521 and 1534 by

Antonio da Sangallo the Elder Antonio da Sangallo the Elder (c. 1453December 27, 1534) was an Italian Renaissance architect who specialized in the design of fortifications. Biography Antonio da Sangallo was born in Florence. Sangallo's father Francesco Giamberti was a wood ...

Antonio da Sangallo the Younger 250px, A model of the Apostolic Palace, which was the main project of Bramante during Sangallo's apprenticeship. 250px, The church of Santa Maria di Loreto near the Rome.html"_;"title="Trajan's_Market_in_Rome">Trajan's_Market_in_Rome. image: ...

is also reported by another source as the builder. The fortress contains the remains of the older fort built by Pisa and the 11th century tower constructed by Matilda. Matilda's tower, known in Italian as ''Mastio di Matilde'', or ''Mastio della Contessa Matilde'', has been restored. The castle built by the Pisans in 1377 is called ''Quadratura dei Pisani'' and is believed to have been built by Puccio di Landuccio. The fortress church is dedicated to '' San Francesco''. The old castle also contains the ruins of an ancient Roman ''

castrum In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a po ...

''. The old fortress has three bastions and two main gates. The bastion closest to the land is called Ampolletta, the bastion nearest to the port is the Canaviglia and the third bastion, the Capitana, is at the northeastern side of the fort. On 24 April 1589, Christine of Lorraine arrived in Livorno from the sea as part of the celebrations of her wedding to

Ferdinand I of Tuscany Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (30 July 1549 – 3 February 1609) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609, having succeeded his older brother Francesco I. Early life Ferdinando was the fifth son (the third surviving at ...

and came ashore landing at ''Fortezza Vecchia'' through the use of a drawbridge. On 19 March 1606

Ferdinando I Ferdinando may refer to: Politics * Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1549–1609) * Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1610–1670) * Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany (1663–1713), eldest son of Cosimo ...

proclaimed Livorno a "city" in a ceremony which took place inside the fortress. The population of the city at the time was 3,000 inhabitants.

Fortezza Nuova

Livorno Fortezza Vecchia vista dal porto

Decades after the construction of the old fort, Livorno's fortifications were further enhanced by building a new fortress. The new fortress was named ''Fortezza Nuova'' or New Fort. A canal system was built to connect the two forts. The builders of the canals were either Venetian or residents of Livorno. In modern times, boats of the Italian Coast Guard and customs police use a marina located in the main canal between the two forts. Prior to building a paved bridge to the castle from the mainland, the fort was surrounded by the sea and was accessible via a

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, uses floats or shallow-draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maximum load that they can carry. ...

. The old fortress is the more significant of the two castles, while ''Fortezza Nuova'' has been described as the "larger and more interesting" of the two forts. In the 19th century the fort became a prison which during the

Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

also kept Italian political prisoners including

Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi (12 August 1804 – 25 September 1873) was an Italian writer and politician involved in the Italian Risorgimento. Biography Guerrazzi was born in the seaport of Livorno, then part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. He ...

and others.Information notice at the site of Fortezza Vecchia The old fortress sustained extensive damage in World War II but was subsequently repaired following the conflict.

Scientific experiment

On 2 April 1662, an experiment designed to test Galileo's principle of the independence of motions, during

projectile motion Projectile motion is a form of motion experienced by an object or particle (a projectile) that is projected in a gravitational field, such as from Earth's surface, and moves along a curved path under the action of gravity only. In the particul ...

, was conducted at the old fortress. The experiment was carried out by members of the '' Accademia del Cimento''. The experimental setup included two

cannonball A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...

s, one used as a projectile from a

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

while the other was vertically suspended. The cannon was placed on ''Mastio di Matilde'', the tower of the old fortress, To effect the simultaneous initiation of motion for the two cannonballs, one cannonball was fastened to a rope hanging through the muzzle opening of the cannon. When the cannon fired, the projected cannonball broke the suspension rope of the other, and the two cannonballs commenced their motion simultaneously. Due to experimental errors, the results, although close to Galileo's prediction, were deemed inconclusive by the academics.

References

External links

{{Coord, 43.5519, N, 10.3023, E, source:wikidata, display=title Castles in Tuscany History of Pisa Buildings and structures in Livorno