The first news of the construction of the Torrione (meaning large torre, or tower) appears in 1481 when Bishop
Bonclerici of Cagli referred in a decree to the construction of a fortress. The mighty war machine designed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini, after its capture by Cesare
Borgia, was partially dismantled prior to his second invasion of the lands of the Duchy of Urbino.On the sturdy remains of the fortress which stood above
the Torrione, the City rulers later built the convent of the Cappuccine Friars. But at that time the Torrione, which was built into the City's medieval wall, constituted a fortified appendage to the Fortress.
Francesco Di Giorgio Martini, in his book of Treatises, presented the Fortress of Cagli as the first of six, describing it with great richness of detail and leading writers to
suggest that the project had given the author a certain degree of satisfaction. A semi-circular line of white stone in the present-day street pavement indicates the position of the wall which contained
the moat until the end of the 18th Century and which fed the City's water supply. The base onto which the draw bridge rested was found during excavation works on the moat. The two holes
through which the chains of the draw bridge passed can be seen above the narrow door which looks towards the city. Passing through the wooden double door you reach a short
corridor with a barrel vaulted ceiling and a spy-hole by the door. At one time the corridor was closed at the far end by another door. The room at first floor level, as spartan as
the other rooms, has five gun-embrasures with smoke holes (chimneys which drew away the gun smoke). The stone slab has a slit for aiming and a circular hole for inserting the
firearm as well as lateral square holes which were used for supporting fire arms by means of wooden struts. On the left hand side of this oval room, a shaft enables
water to be drawn from the cistern six metres below. Beneath the first floor there are two semicircular vaulted rooms with gun embrasures. From one of these you reach
the long underground "rescue passage", the secret route which cuts up through the bowels of the overshadowing hillside and into the barrack square of the Fortress above it.
The elliptical second floor room has no gun holes and probably had just the two narrow slits from which a good stretch of the city wall could be guarded. The spiral
staircase, which is built into the thickness of the wall, leads up to a small room from which the draw bridge was raised with the use of winches. and then on to the last room. Here, the truss beam roof is the result of rebuilding work in the 16th Century. Scratched into the plaster work you can
see a coat of arms and a motto which reads "CARO MIO CONPAGNO AMA IDIO E LA SUA MADRE SIGNORE CONTE RVBERTO [BOSCHETTI] SIGNORE ROSO RIDOLFI ADI 24 DE
NOVEMBRE 1519 " This is a reference to soldiers of Lorenzino dei Medici during the period in which he was appointed Governor of the Duchy of Urbino by his blood
relation Leo X. The 58 holes in the floor of the wide gallery above (closed with wooden trapdoors) were used to drop such things as molten lead and stones on to would-be
assailants. Around the walls are 15 shooting holes. From here you can see the tower of the Massara Gate, which was given to the City by the inhabitants of the
village of Massa Trabaria around 1289, when the city was rebuilt. The Gate was probably defended by a counter-weighted bridge over a defensive ditch which rested on stone corbels.
The Torrione is now the home of the Contemporary Sculpture Centre, housing sculptures by Alamagno, Coletta, Gastini, Icaro, Kounellis, Lorenzetti, Mattiacci, Nagasawa,
Nuncio (di Stefano), Paolini, Porcari, Uncini and Zorio. text by Albert Mazzacchera |
