Florentine Gate in Castiglion Fiorentino

The Florentine Gate of Castiglion Fiorentino is the entrance to the northern part of the historic center. Located in what was called Terziere di Mercato, it was created when the Pisans expanded the wall circuit between 1250 and 1260 and was known as Market Gate or Santa Maria Gate.

The entrance consists of a double door: past the antechamber, a large ashlar sandstone portal described by sources as the "outer door of Santa Maria", is an inner opening with three arches topped by an image of St. Michael, the city's patron saint. On the wall of the door facing Corso Italia, under a pitched canopy, is a mid-19th-century fresco depicting the Immaculate Conception. In this area there was an enclosure to force wayfarers to pay the gabella (a tax) and the "caselle" for the shelter of guards and toll-takers.

Several towers existed to defend the northern portion of the wall circuit, including that of the Planks. The structure was so named because it was surrounded by stages built of large wooden planks of which, today, only the large stone brackets that supported them remain.