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Coming from Florence towards Borgo San Lorenzo, along Via Faentina, you enter the historic center of Borgo San Lorenzo from an ancient tower of the Porta Fiorentina of Borgo San Lorenzo. This is a remarkable example of the 14th century Tuscan military architecture and of the most important testimony of the medieval walls of the capital of Mugello, now almost completely disappeared. You can see it in a small part in street S. Martino.
Walls
After Mugello’s campaigns were repeatedly devastated by the enemies of the Florentine Republic in the first half of the 14th century, it was decided to provide for the defense of Borgo San Lorenzo. Thus in December of 1351 the construction of the walls that included both the village of Castelvecchio and the ancient market square began, extending considerably the ancient nucleus of the city.
The work started in 1351 and for the occasion there are two kilns for the production of mortar and brick. At the end of February 1352 the foundations were well-developed and the walls began to rise.
Particular attention is paid to the towers (both the entrance and the defensive ones placed at the corners of the perimeter that are reinforced with large stone drafts). At the end of March 1352 the work seems to be finished: the wall is fortify with bridged to cross the moat that surrounds the entire wall circuit.
Porta fiorentina of Borgo San Lorenzo
Porta fiorentina of Borgo San Lorenzo, 30 arms high, connected Malacoda’s street to Porta a Marradi (now lost), passing through the Clock Square. The Porta fiorentina of Borgo San Lorenzo is made of brickwork with river stones, supported by a large round arch made of sandstone from cutting.
Porta fiorentina of Borgo San Lorenzo, damaged by the earthquake of 1919, has kept up to a few decades ago the Guelfi merlon. In 1964 the door was subject to legal protection for cultural property and in 1985 the decree of notification was sent to the Borgo San Lorenzo Municipality that acquired the property.
In the early ’70s of the twentieth century the precarious conditions of the Porta fiorentina of Borgo San Lorenzo endanger the safety of passers. An intervention was therefore necessary for its consolidation, the restoration of the outer partition and the arrangement of the two inner compartments. A new restoration was carried out by the Municipal Administration in 1997.
