Portoferraio is the first town on the Island of Elba by population and second by extension after Campo nell'Elba. The toponym Ferraia or Ferraria is documented starting from 1278 and originates from the iron and steel activities present in the area since the EtruscanRoman era. It was heavily hit in 1544 by the fleet of Khayr alDin Barbarossa, with the destruction of the nearby fortress of Montemarsale and the medieval parish church of Santi Giovanni e Silvestro. Portoferraio was refounded at the behest of Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1548, entrusting the architect Giovanni Camerini with the design of a fortified city symbolically called Cosmopoli ("City of Cosimo"). The fortified city was able to resist the FrancoTurkish attacks of Dragut in 1553 and 1555. The new city was conceived as a military garrison with the aim of defending the Tuscan coast as well as as the seat of the Knights of Santo Stefano. The marble epigraph that the Grand Duke had placed on the socalled Porta a Mare, the main entrance to the port, describes the foundation of the new city: «Templa, moenia, domus, arces, portum Cosmus florentinorum dux a fundamentis erexit a. D. MDXXXXVIII ". The city, a Tuscan exclave in the Principality of Piombino, was initially little more than a set of fortifications (which can still be visited today and are well preserved), such as the three forts: Forte Stella, Forte Falcone and Linguella (while Forte Inglese was built later on the remains of Fort San Giovanni, demolished in 1738 to reinforce the town in view of the siege of the British fleet) and the beautiful city walls, whose remains, still in good condition and made habitable, surround the historic center of Portoferraio. The city remained under the control of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until the eighteenth century when the island, due to its strategic position, was at the center of a war between France, Austria and England. Portoferraio was at the center of a long siege between the French and AngloTuscan navies, which was victorious, although the island was later ceded to France. In April 1814, with the Treaty of Fontainebleau, the island was entrusted to Napoleon Bonaparte as the seat of his first exile. Napoleon chose Portoferraio as the capital of the island; in the city the two villas that were his residence are still present and can be visited, that of San Martino and the Villa dei Mulini. It was thanks to the reign of the French emperor, albeit short (18141815), that Portoferraio grew in importance and modernity exponentially, like the rest of the island, thanks to the infrastructures created and the enhancement of the iron mines of Rio Marina. . Portoferraio subsequently experienced an economically stable period, like the whole island, thanks to the iron mines until the early seventies, when the iron industry entered into crisis.
Wikipedia source: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portofe...

Visit the site with the photos of my trip to the Island of Elba in May 2012:
https://nallielba.blogspot.com/

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