The Fortress in the past

In the XIV^th and XV^th century this part of the town was called Poggio San Donato that is the hill of San Donato. The area around the fortress  was the so called 'Cittadella', and there were houses, streets, churches, towers, the building of the Town Hall and of the Captain of the People.

In the following century all these buildings were destroyed before constructing the new Medici Fortress as the new military art rules wanted the fortress to be isolated. So nothing remained of the old Arezzo. 

We don't know where the fortress of the early Middle Ages lay, the so called 'Castrum Marchionis'. It had probably been built by some Tuscan Marquis in the IX^th or X^th century on the Hill of San Donato not far from the Medici fortress. But we know for certain that on the top of the hill there was the 'Cassero di San Donato', a keep that was built by the Bishop Tarlati in the years 1312 - 1327. In fact, besides building a new circle of walls, the Bishop Tarlati constructed three small fortresses too: one near Porta San Clemente, another one near Porta San Lorentino and the third one on the top of the hill of San Donato. But the Cassero di San Donato was badly damaged first during the riots against the Bishop Tarlati and then against Florence. It was later rebuilt and works were over in 1398. One century afterwards, in 1502, when the Aretines rebelled against Florence they partly destroyed it as it was the symbol of the Florentine rule. Soon after they subdued the rebellion, the Florentines wanted a completely new and modern fortress and gave this task to two famous architechts of the time - Giuliano da Sangallo and his brother Antonio il Vecchio.