La città fortificata di Arezzo nei Cabrei del Priorato di Pisa

Abstract

In this proposal the aim is to analyse the fortified city of Arezzo from unpublished archival documents. The Johannite Commandery of S. Jacopo, today no longer existing, was part of the urban setting of Arezzo and was located near the Porta Santo Spirito. This ancient fortification survives today. It stands as a very important example of military constructions for its massive polygonal town walls which were built between 1538 and 1560 by Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane on the site of the old Medieval citadel. The Church of S. Jacopo was destroyed to make way for new urban plans in the post-war period. Still in the urban area traces of the Order of Malta’s architecture survive. Our explanation attempts to explore the connection of this commandery with the fortified city. From such perspective it is interesting to analyse the setting up and functioning of the commandery within a fortified-urban framework. In this analysis studying the drawings produced by the land surveyors from the cabrei is of utmost importance. These unpublished documents, part of the ancient archive of the Priory of Pisa, offer in fact an unusual representation of a fortified city, which is now preserved in the Archivio di Stato in Florence.