Boomer goes to a Fortress

Boomer visits a Fortress

On Friday Boomer had the chance to visit the Fortress of Arezzo. The fortress is at the top a large hill called St. Donato. In fact, it’s the highest point in Arezzo.

The fortress was built in the 16^th century by Antonio da Sangallo and Nanni Unghero. The Medici family ordered its construction. The fortress was actually built on top of an old medieval cittadella that had been destroyed during a battle years earlier.

(For more information about cittadella click here.) 

 The city of Arezzo is in the process of renovating the fortress, and they discovered something really neat. They found some ancient Roman ruins buried under the dirt. Archeologists think that it might have been a house. So far they’ve discovered three rooms and remains of painted walls and floors in two of the rooms.

A body was also discovered there. They think that he might have been a knight!

To find out more about this archeological discovery click here.

The fortress of Arezzo was like a tiny city. There were churches, stores, and houses. But only the wealthy people could live in the fortress because it cost a lot of money. The poorer people, like farmers, lived outside the fortress walls.

This is a picture of one of the outside walls. From the wall you could see the cemetery.  The spots in the cemetery are rented out to people on a 40 year term. If no one pays the additional rent, then the body is moved to a different location. Only people who have mausoleums, and the ancient tombstones, are permanent editions to the cemetery.

Along the walls of the fortress there are little “windows” that allow you to look outside when you’re inside the fortress walls. There are what the windows look like.

The windows were spots that allowed cannons to stick out of the wall. There were little notches in the wall were people would stand to fire the cannons. This made sure that the people wouldn’t be hit, and that there would be enough space for the cannons. Some cannons were over 10 feet long.

To find more information about cannons, watch this YouTube video about medieval cannons at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk_bNFUqzo4

 

Boomer tried to climb the fortress wall, but he got too tired and decided to admire the view instead.