Cinta muraria di Magliano in Toscana

Magliano in Toscana retains a medieval circuit of stone walls, nine towers and three gates that encloses the village among vineyards and olive groves. The fortifications combine square medieval towers with Renaissance semicircular bastions and include walkable stretches of curtain wall.

Why it matters

The walls document the village's history under the Aldobrandeschi counts and the Republic of Siena. Their continuous circuit preserves both the medieval fortification and later Sienese modifications. The walls enclose the village's historic centre and frame views over the surrounding Maremma countryside.

What to notice

Porta di San Giovanni, the southern gate, has a fourteenth-century round arch in travertine. Its square tower carries a plaque recording completion of the circuit in 1323. The south-eastern stretch preserves medieval walls with blind arches. On the western side, six semicircular towers from the fifteenth-century Sienese phase mark a change in the fortifications. Near Porta Nuova, machicolations and battlements are visible above the curtain. Porta di San Martino stands beside the pieve of San Martino and retains elements from the Aldobrandeschi period. Inside the walls are the Gothic Palazzo Checco il Bello and the Romanesque pieve of San Giovanni Battista.

Context and history

An earlier ring surrounded a rocca built by the Aldobrandeschi around the year 1000; no trace of the fortress remains. The larger circuit was completed by 1323, as the tower plaque records. Under Sienese rule, the walls were modernised. A notarial deed of 28 January 1448 ordered construction work and appointed a master of works for a ten-year engagement. Later centuries brought decline, followed by restorations in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Today, the walls remain a defining feature of the village, which lies in the Morellino wine country.