Il Castelletto del Diavolo. The vanished fortress, image of the city ofGenova

• Gaia Leandri ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Genoa

     University of Genoa

     Genoa, Italia

     
• Localización: FORTMED 2025. Defensive Architecture of the Mediterranean Vol XVIII / coord. por Pablo Rodríguez Navarro, Ornella Zerlenga, Vincenzo Cirillo, 2025, ISBN 978-84-1396-322-8, págs. 234-241
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In ancient images depicting Genoa, a vast and imposing fortress stood on a hill. The “Castelletto” has now disappeared, destroyed by the Genoese themselves, who saw this castle as the symbol of the various dominations that marked the city's complex history. It remains immortalised in a few ancient representations that will be examined in this study. The earliest mention of the Castelletum then just a defensive tower surrounded by orchards belonging to the Monastery of San Siro, dates back to the 10th century. With the expansion of the city walls, this tower became part of a new urban district. Due to its strategic position for controlling the city and the port, in the 1400s, while Genoa was under foreign rule, the tower was transformed into a true fortress. Over more than a century, the Castelletto flew the flags of external domination and was repeatedly destroyed for over more than a century by the rebellious Genoese and subsequently rebuilt. Eventually demolished, the fortress is now remembered only in the name of a residential neighborhood with a stunning sea and city view.