Adeguare la difesa nei Presidi di Toscana. Porto Ercole (VIV-XVII secolo).

The Presidi of Tuscany played an important role in the control of routes in the Mediterranean Sea and defence from barbarian raids between the 15th and 17th century.They were annexed to the Spanish dominions in 1557 when the Spanish King, Philip II, withdrew them from the control of Siena and its new overlord, Cosimo I Medici, the Duke of Florence.The Presidi represented a defence bulwark and a sure landing place for the Spanish fleet and the allied navies along the routes of the Tyrrhenian Sea, for nearly three centuries.Their strategic importance was such as to justify the commitment of the Spanish Crown to ensure their defence, and to support the strengthening of the fortifications.Moreover, they became a tool which influenced the policy of the Italian States after the Battle of Lepanto, to the point that the danger of Turkish invasions abated.The fortification of the Presidi began in the Republic of Siena in the 15th century, and continued, with integrations and modernizations, during the second half of the following century, with the support of architects such as Baldassare Peruzzi and his pupil, Antonio Maria Lari. The archive documents, and a vast iconographic collection preserved in Italian and European archives and libraries, also confirm that many military architects and engineers, such as Bernardo Buontalenti, Giovanni Camerini, Gabrio Serbelloni, Giorgio Fratino, Giovan Tommaso Scala, Benvenuto Tortelli, and García De Toledo worked for the modifications of those fortifications, of which it is possible to follow the building during the Spanish domination. It is not possible to analyse each Presidi in this paper; thus, we focus attention on an exemplary case, that of Porto Ercole, between the 15th and 17th centuries. From being a defence centre for the port and city, it was transformed into much larger, multi-building structure, around many fortified buildings, protecting the southern Argentario territory.