Semifonte was a fortified city in

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, built during the late 12th century and destroyed after a siege by

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

in 1202. Its remains are within the modern ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of

Barberino Val d'Elsa Barberino Val d'Elsa is a ''frazione'' of Barberino Tavarnelle which was until December 2018 a sovereign ''comune'' (municipality). Barberino Val d'Elsa is located above the valley from which it takes its name. The centre of town is still ringed b ...

. It was sited midway between Florence and

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

on a hill overlooking the Elsa valley and the intersection of the two main routes in the area, the

Via Francigena The Via Francigena () is an ancient road and pilgrimage route running from the cathedral city of Canterbury in England, through France and Switzerland, to Rome and then to Apulia, Italy, where there were ports of embarkation for the Holy Land. It w ...

and the Via Chiantigiana, so enabling it to control trade in Tuscany. This dominant position proved to be its downfall. The peace treaty required the surviving inhabitants to demolish their own city, exiled them all, and forbade any further building on the site. Supposedly salt was plowed into the ground.Herbert L. Oerter, "Campaldino, 1289", ''Speculum'', 43:3:429 (1968). After the demolition, the stone was transported to nearby

and was used in 1204, to build the walls that still stand today. It was not until the 16th century that a commemorative chapel, dedicated to St Michael, was built on the site of Semifonte, by

Santi di Tito Santi di Tito (5 December 1536 – 25 July 1603) was one of the most influential and leading Italian painters of the proto- Baroque style – what is sometimes referred to as "Counter-Maniera" or Counter-Mannerism. Biography He was born in Flo ...

in 1597; or in the 18th century by the Lorena family. The dome surmounting the chapel is a one-eighth scale replica of

Brunelleschi Filippo Brunelleschi ( , , also known as Pippo; 1377 – 15 April 1446), considered to be a founding father of Renaissance architecture, was an Italian architect, designer, and sculptor, and is now recognized to be the first modern engineer, p ...

's dome on the cathedral of Florence, Today, very little remains of the city: one truncated tower of the southern gate (Porta San Niccolò) and a nearby chapel, plus various buried remains. These are to be found on the summit of the hill above the village of Petrognano-Semifonte, which dates back to the time of the city and stood outside the walls. The Florentine campaign is documented in the archives of Florence. The events were also described by Pace di Certaldo, a contemporary author. There is a modern account in Italian in the book "Semifonte" by Enzo Salvini.

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External links

Master thesis on Semifonte
Cities and towns in Tuscany Archaeological sites in Tuscany Barberino Tavarnelle {{Florence-geo-stub