Welcome to Cosmopoli, a cradle of civilization and of culture.This ideal Renaissance city was founded here, in what is now called Portoferraio, by Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1548, on the remains of the ancient Roman ‘Fabricia,’ and of the medieval ‘Ferraja.’Cosimo asked his best architects to plan the city so that it would be secure, balanced, and rational, just as he was.He brought to the island a large group of foot soldiers to be the defenders of the city, as well as numerous construction workers and the architect Giovanni Battista Bellucci, assisted by experts on solving defensive and military problems. The strategic necessity of a fortification of the city’s bay derived from fears of another attack by Barbary pirates, who at the time were harrying both Elba and the mainland coasts of the Grand-Duchy of Tuscany.To construct Cosmopoli, Cosimo employed the best architects available: first Bellucci, and then Giovanni Camerini, who designed palisades, ramparts, walls, and barriers, making the city of Cosimo one of the safest and best-defended ports of the entire Mediterranean.Consider the fact that the era’s most feared pirate, Dragut (Turghut Reis), towards the mid-sixteenth century, conquered practically all of the island along with the rest of the Mediterranean world, and also tried to lay siege to this fortified city. Obviously, he did not succeed: Cosmopoli was impregnable!The fortress’ most important elements that can still be admired today are the Forte Stella (‘Star Fort’), the Forte Falcone (‘Falcon Fort’), and the Torre della Linguella (‘Tower of the Tongue’), connected to each other by imposing walls in a way that creates a single defensive block, enabling the city to be closed off and protected. In addition, the ‘Darsena,’ or Old Harbor, was originally closed by a gigantic iron chain…Enjoy yourself while you discover the enchanted corners of this fortified city, imagining how it must have looked almost 500 years ago.