Belforti Tower in Montecatini Val di Cecina
The Tower was built during the 1300s and dominates the village
The Belforti Tower stands on the highest point of Montecatini Val di Cecina and is the emerging element of what was once the defensive system of the village, of which other smaller, round-shaped towers remain, probably delimiting the city walls and the access road to the castle.
The Tower was built during the 1300s by the noble Belforti family, then ruling in Volterra. The Belforti family took refuge in Montecatini in the tower, which was besieged for an entire winter until the commander of the troops of Volterra managed to take the castle by force.
Now devoid of its crenellated crowning, the tower is almost 30 meters in height, the width of the walls at the base is 3.20 meters. The construction with ashlars of Montecatini stone, interrupted only by horizontal bands of white (Alberese limestone), in the lower part of the structure is particular. There are numerous small windows and two holes, opened transversely by order of the Belforti, from which it is possible to look towards the Volterra Fort and the Sillana Fortress.
