Ancient walls

In the early 1300s, faced with the threat of Henry VII’s army, Florence had to strengthen the defenses of its territory, including the Montelupo castle. In 1312, measures were taken to prevent the houses in the Borgo from facilitating a potential siege of the Castle: the removal of overhanging roof parts was ordered, and houses too close to the walls were demolished.

At that time, only the upper part, the Castle, was fortified. Around 1325, during the conflict between Florence and Lucca, the Borgo, still lacking defenses, likely suffered damage from enemy raids. The Arno flood of 1333 affected the Borgo but not the Castle, which was situated higher up. Finally, in 1336, Florence decided to build walls to enclose the Borgo, which was by then in an advanced stage of construction: these walls would unite the Castle and the Borgo into a single defensive line, remnants of which are still visible today.

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