Torri e mulini a vento sul Monte Argentario. Affinità tipologiche e esigenze funzionali

A series of watchtowers were built along the Tuscan coast during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance as an early defense system against pirate attacks. The period between the mid-fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries saw the development of the port in the Portercolese area and the beginning of intense economic and commercial activity. The existing mills underwent significant restoration and many new ones were erected. Moreover, following the establishment of the State of the Presìdi, King Philip II of Spain had a series of towers and fortresses constructed to defend the coast of the new state. In 1558 the Rocca of Porto Ercole was restored and Forte Filippo was built. It is most likely that while work was being carried out on these two fortifications, the existing infrastructures, including the mills and the port, also underwent some kind of reconstruction. Circular shaped towers with or without a base are architectural forms that are found and used for both fortification and milling. The first round towers with a circular floor plan were probably built on the Tuscan coast by the Pisans in the Middle Ages. This form was then widely used, especially between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, during the expansion of Spanish rule in the Mediterranean. Apart from a few details that differentiate each tower, several main features generally remain constant over time and in the different geographical areas affected by the phenomenon. Windmills were very popular in Northern Europe and in the Iberian Peninsula, while they were little used in Italy. The first document attesting the presence of windmills in Tuscany dates back to the first half of the thirteenth century. Our study starts with a historical and territorial classification of the phenomena concerning the construction of defense and milling structures with particular attention to the Tuscan region. Its aim is then to retrace the main construction phases of the specific, interesting and emblematic case of the polyfunctional adaptation of a tower structure, namely the so-called Torre del Mulinaccio on Monte Argentario. In fact, this particular structure was not only used as mill, but also served as an outpost for defense and as a sighting tower, pertaining to the fortified structures erected behind it on the summit of Monte Filippo, which dominate the hamlet of Porto Ercole and the entire bay of the old port from the north-east. In fact, the case in question allows us to examine the formation, development and adaptation of two building types destined for an essentially different use, but whose morphological and constructive features and function - with the exception of a few, peculiar technical expedients - are similar and interchangeable.