Thursday, March 24, 2011

Monteriggioni - Italy

This week i've only received 1 card so far. That's not normal! Maybe i'll find a bunch of cards in my mailbox tomorrow.
This wasn't the card i've received yesterday, this one arrived a few weeks ago. It was one of my favorites and it was sent by Gosia.
"Monteriggioni is a medieval walled town, located on a natural hillock, in the Siena Province of Tuscany - built by the Sienese in 1213 as a front line in their wars against Florence, by assuming command of the Cassia Road running through the Val d'Elsa and Val Staggia to the west.

The money Monteriggioni made went to make the town better. Very little has been done to Monteriggioni's walls or buildings since they were first erected. Monteriggioni's walls and the buildings that make up the town within are the best preserved example of their kind in all of Italy, attracting tourists, architects, medieval historians and archaeologists. The town appears to float above the valley at night due to the hillside walls and towers being lit from below with light.
The roughly circular walls, totalling a length of about 570 meters and following the natural contours of the hill, were built between 1213 and 1219. There are fourteen towers on square bases set at equidistance, and two portals or gates. One gate, the Porta Fiorentina opens toward Florence to the north, and the other, the Porta Romana, faces Rome to the south." -in: wikipedia