Castello di Porciano

The Castle of Porciano dominates the area of Stia and the part of valley belonging to it and crossed by the Arno river. Recent restoration works allowed this structure to be visited in all its beauty, today. Both its geographical position and its architecture make it one of the most admired and most precious strongholds in the Casentino. According to the legend, the great poet Dante Alighieri was imprisoned in this castle after the battle of Campaldino in 1289.

The bronze coins dating to the III century A.D. that have been found and that today are kept in the castle's museum testify the human presence in Porciano since the Roman times. Around the year 1000, Porciano was a "curte", a small fortified village where Guido Tegrimo of the Counts Guidi had been living since 1017. In 1115, some documents began to cite Porciano as "castrum", which meant that it was transforming itself from a little village into an important castle.
The Guidi got this stronghold far after the end of their relatives' seigniory in Stia (in 1402). Its last owner was Lodovico dei Guidi of Porciano, who abandoned it in 1442 to enter the religious congregation of the Camaldolese friars in the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence.
Without any war or siege, Porciano passed to the Florentine Republic, that had been extending its prestige on the castle and its territories since 1350. As many other fortresses, the castle's period of decadence started between the XVI and the XVII centuries because of the re-establishment of peace in the areas belonging to the Tuscan Grand Duchy.
The castle is composed of walls surrounding it and by a village outside it. A watchtower, from where it is possible to accede on the inside, still overlooks the walls and there is also a rectangular keep. It is quite likely that shacks, stables and other wooden constructions for the storage of weapons, as well as warehouses and barracks had been built inside the wall.
Unfortunately, the 1960's restorations have interested the stone buildings, only. Yet, it is possible to admire the castle of Porciano in all its magnificent integrity thanks to them.