Description
In a dominant and super panoramic position with an immense 360 degree sea view inside Forte Stella, an unobtainable and unmissable apartment of approximately 200 m2, unique in its kind, consisting of two large living rooms, kitchen, two bedrooms and bathroom with the possibility second bathroom. The apartment is in excellent condition and immediately habitable, and in the conservative restoration all the precautions and care that should be used for a similar property were used, starting from the Ancient Walls of Roman Remains "Opus Reticulatum" , among the Unique in the World.
FORTE STELLA
It is located in the upper part of the historic center of Portoferraio, at the top of one of the two hills that form the promontory of the city. From it, like a panoramic terrace, the view extends 360 degrees: over the center and the dock, over the northern coast of the island, over the open sea and the Scoglietto. It is immediately noticeable upon arrival in Portoferraio both from the sea and from the land, with its characteristic and distinctive reddish silhouette.
It can be easily reached by going up from Piazza della Repubblica, following the wide Napoleone climb, Via Ferrandini, or the narrow and suggestive steps of the Stella and via della Campana. The views of its walls will act as a point of reference
Forte Stella together with Forte Falcone and the Torre della Linguella, constitutes one of the main defensive nuclei of the Medici fortresses of Portoferraio. In a dominant position at 49 meters above sea level, it rises above the historic center of Portoferraio, from which height it controls the entire roadstead of the town and the cliffs located to the north.
The entire fortified complex was built in 1548 based on a design by the Architects Giovanni Camerini and Giovan Battista Belluzzi at the behest of Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, with the aim of creating a defensive and lookout structure for the ancient Cosmopoli (Portoferraio). The defensive system of the Medici fortifications soon became an impregnable stronghold.
Forte Stella has a star-shaped plan, from which its name originates, and is entirely made of red bricks and characterized by internal galleries with slits that run along the entire perimeter and which were used to counter attacks. The entire defensive complex was built adapting to the sheer coast of the promontory on which it is located. At the top of the fortress there are five corner bastions, part of which still retains the original sentry boxes.
Above the entrance door there is a plaque commemorating the restitution of the city of Cosmopoli to the Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Lorraine in 1815 following the congress of Vienna.
On the north-eastern summit stands the historic lighthouse of Portoferraio, which was built in a circular shape by the Grand Duke Leopold of Lorraine in 1788 in the place where a light previously stood and which served to signal the imposing promontory located behind the natural port of Portoferraio, which the historian Sebastiano Lombardi defined as the most beautiful and majestic lighthouse located in the Mediterranean.
Inside the complex there are various buildings, which in the past were used for various functions such as the powder magazine, the armory , the storage warehouses, a hospital and the garrison quarters, as well as a small chapel which served as a place of prayer for the sentries who kept watch over the fort.
In the past, Forte Stella housed the bronze bust of Cosimo I de 'Medici, created by Benvenuto Cellini, later removed in 1781 by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo who moved it to Florence where it is still kept in the Bargello Museum today.--145c11098a75e3394d7a0e76ada3cbe6!
