Fortezza Medicea, Renaissance fortress in Arezzo, Italy.
The Fortezza Medicea is a Renaissance fortress built on a hill south of the old town with five bastions arranged in a star pattern. From its elevated positions, the structure commands views across the entire city and surrounding countryside.
Construction began in 1538 under architects Giuliano and Antonio da Sangallo for Grand Duke Cosimo I de Medici. The fortress was built as part of a broader defensive network the Medici family developed across Tuscany.
The fortress rises above the city and shapes how locals navigate and understand Arezzo's layout. People use the slopes and paths around it as natural gathering places and landmarks in their daily movements through town.
The site can be explored on foot and is reachable from several points in the city. The southern approach offers gentler slopes and clearer views back toward the old town as you climb.
When workers dug the fortress foundations in 1553, they uncovered the Chimera of Arezzo, an Etruscan bronze sculpture from the 5th century before the common era. This discovery links the Renaissance stronghold to far older layers of the city's past.
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