Castello di Staggia Senese, Medieval fortress in Staggia Senese, Italy.
Castello di Staggia Senese is a medieval fortress in the village of Staggia Senese, near Poggibonsi in Tuscany. It has a rectangular layout with two round towers at opposite corners and an interior wall that divides the courtyard into two sections.
The fortress was built in the medieval period by the Soarzi family to control the road toward Siena. By the end of the 14th century, the Florentine Republic took it over and made further changes to its structure.
The castle sits along the Via Francigena, an old pilgrimage road running from Canterbury to Rome. Travelers walking this route today still pass by its walls, just as medieval pilgrims once did on their way south.
The Rocca di Staggia is open to the public 365 days a year and is managed by the Fondazione la Rocca di Staggia; it is privately owned. Access to the castle runs along a ramp that crosses over Porta Lecchi, creating two separate road levels. The 2005–2006 restoration added a metal walkway on the southern facade facing the village.
The castle's only entrance is reached by a ramp that crosses over Porta Lecchi, creating two street levels — the only example of its kind in Tuscany. The smaller enclosure served as a service area and refuge for the population in wartime. Until the early 2000s fruit trees stood inside, planted when farmers lived there until the early 1980s; the 2005–2006 restoration removed them all.
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