Castello di Castiglione della Pescaia, Medieval fortress in Castiglione della Pescaia, Italy.

Castello di Castiglione della Pescaia is a medieval fortress perched on a hill with stone walls and three defensive towers that overlook both the Tyrrhenian Sea and the town below. The structure spreads across the hilltop with fortifications that visitors can walk around today, offering views toward the coastline.

The fortification began around the 10th century as a single coastal watchtower erected by the Pisans, who controlled the area, and was first called Torre Pisana. The other two towers were added over the following two centuries, while the curtain walls and the buildings between them date from the Renaissance. The complex was later renovated under the Lorena in the late 18th century and again in the early 20th century under architect Lorenzo Porciatti.

The castle's name and its oldest tower, the Torre Pisana, recall the Pisans who controlled this stretch of the Maremman coast and built the watchtower around the 10th century. The three corner towers, crowned with battlements, are the element visitors single out when looking up from the medieval centre below.

The interior of the fortress is not open to visitors today, but you can walk around the exterior fortification walls. This circuit around the structure offers good vantage points for photography and views of both the sea and town.

The fortress once controlled the ancient Lake Prelius, which today exists as the Diaccia Botrona nature reserve. This wetland now hosts numerous water birds and represents a dramatically transformed landscape from the strategic waterway that once surrounded the defenses.