| TORRE DI CASTEL MARINO | | This tower probably corresponds to Castrum Marium juncta mare ( located near the sea) and was mentioned in the act of division of the territories belonging to the Aldobrandeschi family in 1274. There are unfortunately no documents, however, which could cast any light on the first centuries of life of this building.
One can only suppose that this was probably one of the first coastal sighting towers erected in the area.
This tower is in fact, completely different to the other ones built in the 16th century from the point of view of the building typology. It has a squared shape and base in stone of which two sides are still standing, while the others have collapsed. On the southern side a small window is framed in the building with worked stones, while where the entrance door would normally have been, on the side facing dry land, there is a loophole, whose function is not possible to see anymore, surmounted by two slabs, needed to support the small tower with embrasures. The same slabs have been found also in the small tower which is still intact. These structures are all likely to have been part of the several changes during the 16th century, which will be described later on.
The stones necessary to build the structures had clearly been found at the site, as they were the same type as the ones used for the construction of the first part of the tower. This of course gave a valid reason, along with the good visibility of the entire coast, for the choice of this location. By examining the only documentation which dates back to the 16th century and is characterised in a series of letters kept in the Florence State Archives ( Archivi di Stato di Firenze ), it is possible to reconstruct some of the phases of the history of this building. In the first letter, by Ambrogio Colombani, dated the 7th of June 1536, the tower is only mentioned in relation to a Turkish bandit who had perhaps been seen coming out of Collelungo Bay ( baia di Collelungo). The second letter of the 3rd of September 1560, was sent by Flaminio Nelli, Podesta of Grosseto. This letter is about Castelmarino tower and Cala di Forno tower in relation to a broad road cheaply built ( in the original Italian “ senza spesa alcuna”), which is probably the whole or only a part of the layout road network which starts with the Orbetellana Road ( Via Orbetellana) and which was used to link the coast with Grosseto. In the Land Register of the 19th century, this road is indicated as the one that leads to Cala Di Forno.
In the same letter the work of completion of the towers is mentioned: these buildings were about to be finished, and had to be completed before spring, to avoid further inconvenience.
This area was apparently well protected as Nelli describes:
On entering this area, stones are constantly thrown from the bastions (in the original Italian” Sapra ancora come in questa terra si puo’ salire et uscire quasi per tutto et questi bastioni e cortine vanno calando sassi “).
What is certain from this and other documents, is the constant fear of the local population of being attacked by the Turkish fleets.
In a previous letter dated the 19th of July 1560, which had been sent by Tommaso Ciucci to the Grand Duke Cosimo, there is the description of a visit by the Podesta (leader of the city) and Captain Corvatto to recognize Castel Marino as a fort, as already done by ancient populations, and to take the main measurements of the building. The perimeter walls were about one hundred and ten feet wide, the walls were one and a half ells thick, and nine ells high, with battlements, and the internal room was twenty four feet wide and forty two long.
A second visit occurred to check the sighting visibility from the tower, as one can read in the letter sent by the Podesta of Grosseto, Flaminio Nelli, to the Grand Duke on the 29th of July 1560. During this operation the vegetation grown around the building was burnt and cleared and this was repeated in the surrounding areas of the tower of Salt (torre del Sale), situated not far from the tower of Trappola, of the tower of Colleleungo and of that of Cala di Forno. From a letter dated the 8th of April 1561, and addressed to the Grand Duke, it is understood that the work to the tower had finished and that Baldassarre Lanci from Urbino had already started the supervision along the coast. This is confirmed by the reviser Conraro of Perugia on the 13th April 1561 in a letter to the Grand Duke in which he was informed that the work on the building was about to be completed and that everything had turned out very well ( in the original Italian “e’ riuscita versamente bell’op(er)a”).
It must certainly have been a great deal of work of restoration or small changes, as the tower was built in an older period. According to De Vita, Lanci from Urbino kept his role as an inspector until 1570, when he was succeeded by Simone Genga, who was mainly in charge of the towers of Cala di Forno, Trappola, Castelmarino and Collelungo.
The historian Boldrini writes that “ from the Archives of the Community of Grosseto ( Comunita’ di Grosseto) it is clear that the garrison of the two towers of Caladiforno and Castelmarino were maintained by the Community, the Commendatore of Alberese, and the Marsili family at the beginning of the Medici government. At the time of this relation the tower was falling into disrepair. Evidently the tower had not been restored for a long time, as can be seen in the Leopold’s Land Registry of 1823. The tower, of around one hundred and forty four squared ells, was put down as one of the properties of Lord Tommaseo Prince of Corsini under the heading of 337. The related document of the cadastral map (carta catastale) was drawn up by the land surveyor Luigi Banti (in the original Italian” Dall’archivio della Comunita’ di Grosseto si rivela che alle due torri di Caladiforno e Castelmarino, sul primo governo della casa Medici era mantenuta la guarnigione a spese della Comunita’, del Commendatore dell’Alberese e della famiglia Marsili.
Comunque all’epoca della relazione, e cioe’ nel 1760, la torre risulta diruta. Evidentemente essa non fu piu’ oggetto di interventi di restauro in quanto nel Catasto Leopoldino del 1823 la torre, di braccia 144, segnata alla proprieta’ di Don Tommaso Principe Corsini alla particella 337, risulta sempre diruta. La relativa carta catastale e’ stata disegnata dal geometra Luigi Banti”). | |
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