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Forte Falcone

Designed by Giovan Battista Bellucci and then built under the direction of Giovanni Camerini, it is on Portoferraio’s highest hill and is accessed along a winding road that leads to the entrance, which stands behind an avant-corps dating from the 18th Century

Forte Falcone, erected in 1548, is one of the three key points of the ‘4M defensive system of Cosmopoli, together with Forte Stella and the Torre della Linguella. Designed by Giovan Battista Bellucci and then built under the direction of Giovanni Camerini, it is on Portoferraio’s highest hill (79 m above sea level) and is accessed along a winding road that leads to the entrance, which stands behind an avant-corps dating from the 18th Century.

Above the massive wooden door, a marble plaque commemorating the foundation of Cosmopoli by Grand Duke Cosimo I is similar to those on the Porta a Mare and Forte Stella. The main doorway leads into a large room with a barrel-vaulted roof. This is the starting-point for the internal corridors which were originally the core of the defences of the Fort (which totals 2,360 m2 in area); and ran alongside the moat (with slit windows at regular intervals).

Underneath the floor is one of the large cisterns built on the orders of Cosimo I to collect rainwater and thus guarantee a secure water supply in case ofsiege. The rooms inside the ramparts, with barrel or cross-vaulted ceilings, were used as small storerooms or dungeons. The walkway which runs around the edge of the fort leads to the side overlooking the sea, where the sheer cliffs provide natural defences capable of repelling any assailant.

Only two of the four watch-towers on the corners of the fort now remain: the one in the North-East corner with a well conserved Cross of Lorraine and the one in the South-West, rebuilt in the postwar years.