Before the modern age: the system of the towers in southern Tuscany. Digital tools for a first approach to documentation

Abstract

The southern part of Tuscany offers an extended and rich landscape made of fortress and towers, the connection between coastal defence and inner territories is still readable. This was a significant premise to the evolution of defensive systems in the Modern Age: even if “technologically” surpassed by the firearms, the ancient towers and fortress were capable of adaptation in the territorial system of defence. Many of these remains are nowadays in decay, almost lost in the woods. In this study the digital survey of a very relevant fortified settlement, the “Torre Bassa” (Short Tower) in Magliano in Toscana (GR), build in the XII century and adapted more than one time across centuries, will be the base of analysis, reconstruction hypothesis and in the end reflection about the destiny of this kind of building, abandoned for a very long time, but still strongly present in the landscape of this area.