This tower was part of the complex of Collecchium and therefore was the property of the Aldobrandeschi family. The tower is situated on a hillock in proximity of the Aurelia road. The nearby cave of local limestone, now abandoned, certainly provided the material for the building of the fort, whose origin is unknown, although it is supposed to have been erected a long time before, as its typology corresponds to that of the high medieval towers.
Some historians suppose that this was the first building to have been inhabited by the Aldobrandeschis in the Collecchium territory. The tower is located at the centre of a rectangular enclosure, delimited by walls in stones with irregular ashlars where there are harrow holes and harquebusiers, with angular turret masts with circular shape.
Inside, beside the don ton, there is another building which was probably used by the troops and for the provisions: there were also other buildings of which no trace is left, as the space in the tower was enormous. Overall, the complex is, however, still readable, due to the good conditions of preservation. The tower, built in well squared stones, has a rectangular base: one must not confuse them with the bases of the sixteenth century which were built with a higher inclination and were defined by a ridge in the upper part. High up, the little arches in bricks on a capsized pyramid-shaped pedestal, were typical of the sienese typology.
The arched entrance door was located on the ground floor: below, on the surface, the area where the ladder was positioned was clearly visible, while a second door, of which today remains only a jamb, was leading to the room on the ground floor.
On all the sides, at different heights, there are harquebusiers, to have more possibilities of shooting: on the side facing the Aurelia road, three windows had provided the light for the building. Only the lower one was contemporary with the rest of the building.
Inside, the room is divided into three levels, whose lower one, as one can see from the sprinters still intact on the angles, was covered with cross-shaped vaults in bricks; the other two levels were instead simple wooden floor lofts.
High up a vault in bricks with a lower arch and nailed at the sides, supports the terrace above, where the artillery was positioned. The thick vegetation, grown even inside the complex, prevents to read clearly the structural brickworks which are still standing.
In the indicative tables of Leopold’s Land Register ( Catasto Leopoldino) in Grosseto State Archives ( Archivio di Stato di Grosseto) the complex, under the section F of Magliano District ( Comune di Magliano ), is the property of Giulio of Francesco Marsili, and it is indicated as New Tower ( Torre Nuova), of approximately 3.600 ells.
In the corresponding tables drawn up by the land-surveyor Luigi Banti on the 8th of March 1824, the building documentation was under the heading 158. |
