Forte Stella, Elba

Fort Stella is a coastal fortification located in Portoferraio, on the island of Elba. Its location is in a dominant position on a promontory overlooking the entire harbor roadstead from the north.

The imposing fortified complex was built in 1548, designed by Giovanni Camerini and Giovan Battista Belluzzi, to carry out sighting and defense functions as part of the massive defensive system, wanted by the Medici, that characterized the Elban town and consisted of the set of various fortified structures that, in fact, made the place impregnable. The complex continued to perform the original functions for which it was used until relatively recent times.

Fort Stella appears as an imposing fortified structure that is articulated on a star-shaped plan, on the whole referable to an irregular polygon. Externally, the entire complex is encircled by a series of brick-clad curtain walls that rest on mighty scarp plinths and were originally further protected by a series of moats that bounded them externally. The entire complex is adapted to the steep orography of the promontory on which it is situated and has numerous passageways and underground rooms, which in the past could have been used as emergency shelters in case of enemy attack from the sea. At the apexes of the fortress stand the five angular bastions, which have also preserved part of the original sentry boxes; at the northeastern apex is also the historic lighthouse of Portoferraio, with a circular plan, which was built by the Lorraines in 1788 in order to signal the presence of the promontory in front of the harbor at night.

Various buildings stand within the fortified complex, which formerly housed the powder magazine, armory, storage warehouses, garrison quarters and a hospital garrison; a chapel was also built among them as a place of prayer for the sentries who served at the fort.