Forte di Belvedere
Florence, Italy

Though Florence was politically organized as a democracy, at the top of the heap was a slathering of well-to-do-families, of whom the Medci were the most slatherous of all. Beginning in the first half of the 15th century, banker Cosimo de' Medici (1389-1464) was "first among equals" in Florence, and his family more or less ruled Florence for the next couple of centuries. The Medici lent money to foreign kings, produced four Popes, and were lavish supporters of the arts: We can thank them for funding the creation of the piano and opera, for supporting many of the Renaissance-era artists who are remembered today, and, most importantly, they may have been responsible for the invention of the starfort!

By this time the Medicis had progressed from being mere bankers to being Cardinals and Dukes and things, as befit their regal demeanor...and the current need for fortification was less a reaction to external threat than it was to local unrest. Florence was a riotous town, which had twice expelled the Medicis from power, only to see them reinstated thanks to their connections in Rome (the Pope owing them vast sums of money was an excellent political foot in the door). The Forte di Belvedere was thus fancied as more of a visually impressive, safe place to keep Medici possessions and persons than a classic military strongpoint.

This siege resulted in the return of the Medici to Florence thanks to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500-1558)'s Spanish troops, after those dirty Spaniards had sacked Rome for historical purposes (the sacking of Rome was a form of bi-centurial European sport for many centuries).

The Forte di Belvedere's most striking component is the blindingly white, three-story Belvedere Building, which has no military function: Let's put a big fat white target in the middle of our starfort! This structure was designed as a clear statement that this was a sumptuous Medici villa, albeit a particularly secure one: As this was an "urban fortress," it was imperative that it project enough wealth and fashion to make the neighbors jealous. This edifice's upper floors were only accessible by one narrow staircase, however, which would likely have been defensible to a degree.

The Forte di Belvedere's guns were never required for the defense of Medici gold, but a single gun was fired from the fort every day at noon. The residents of Florence good-naturedly named this il cannone delle pastasciutte, "the cannon of pastas."

The Medici had loads of villas from which to choose on a daily basis, and the one perched atop the Forte di Belvedere was likely a little difficult to get in and out of, so whichever Medici was the current Grand Duke only stayed therein during "unhealthy times," such as when things were looking rioty on the streets of Florence. Ferdinando I de' Medici (1549-1609), Grand Duke of Tuscany, remained in the Forte during a plague epidemic in 1600.

The 21st century has been an eventful one thus far for the Forte: In 2006 and again in 2008, visitors plummeted to their deaths from the fort's bastions. The Forte was closed in 2008 pending an investigation into these dreadful accidents, to see if the city of Florence was in any way responsible for the actions of two guys who dumbly fell off a starfort. I'm fairly certain that I've been to way more starforts than either of these guys, and I've managed to not fall off of any of them. Fortunately, the city was excused, and the Forte reopened in 2013.

Florence is well-supplied with starforts. In addition to the Forte di Belvedere is the Fortezza da Basso, a much more military-minded starfort than Belvedere; and the Abbazia di San Miniato al Monte, which is of course an abbey, not a starfort, but I'll be darned if that thing isn't a starfort! It seems unlikely that I will dedicate a whole page to either of them, so perhaps we'll just memorialize them here:

The Fortezza da Basso (which translates as "the fortress down low," assumedly referring to the fact that it was not built atop a hill of any sort, as were Florence's other starforts) was integrated with Florence's 14th-century city walls, and was initially surrounded by a moat. When Florence was named the new republic of Italy's capital city in 1865, however, those ancient walls were demolished. The Fortezza suddenly stood alone, and its moat was filled in.

The Fortezza was operated by the Italian military until 1967, after which it floated, free and purposeless, through time and space. It has recently been named as the seat of the Florentine Exhibition Center, and has since been undergoing a lengthy restoration process.

The reason that this abbey is lovingly surrounded by starfort walls and bastions has to do with our old friend Michelangelo, who was named Governor General over the city's fortifications during the Siege of Florence in 1530. Michaelangelo's ideas about fortification were every bit as innovative as his ideas about everything else, and he left behind starforty drawings of planned additions to Florence's walls...and it was he who designed the bastioned trace that protects this abbey today.

I will admit that I feel compelled to end with another joke about decapitated Saint Miniato, but I think we've pretty much played that one out, so the end.