Old Citadel

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Cittadella and Torre Guelfa
(Citadel and Guelph Tower)
Piazza di Terzanaia
Pisa, March 2013

“The area of the medieval ‘Tersana’ (darsena or shipyard) expanded during 13th century at the time when military victories and the flowering of overseas commerce made it necessary for the city to find a suitable site for naval purposes. Military defeats in the following century and a crisis in mercantile activities caused this area to be turned into a fortress, with the first battlements in brickwork on the walls. The Tersana, gradually enhanced with the addition of other towers (the Ghibellina, St. George and the towers on the Arno (or Degazia), definitively became a fortress under the Florence after 1406, when the wall along the river was strengthened and a completely new tower, 18m tall, the torre Guelfa (or Citadel tower), was built. It was given the name Guelfa in contraposition to the Ghibellina tower.” (Torre Guelfa and the old Citadel, Terre di Pisa)