During the Middle Ages it was Repubblica marinara di pisa’s turn to exploit the iron mines and granite deposits in Elba: indeed most of the columns in Piazza dei Miracoli were made from skilled stone-cutters from San Piero. There is much proof of the Pisan presence too: the elegant Romanesque churches and the San Giovanni in campo Tower, built on a giant granite rock, but above all the majestic “Fortress” in Marciana and the Volterraio castle, standing on guard to protect the mountains and the sea.
The Medici arrived in 1548: Cosimo I built the fortified town of Portoferraio, considered a military gem. The harmony between sea, land and architecture was so perfect that the new town was given the name of strong>Cosmopoli, “heart of civilization and culture, a perfect example of balance and rationality”. Immediately afterwards the Spanish settled in Porto Azzurro and built not only the majestic Forte San Giacomo, today a prison, but also various chapels, as well as the suggestive santuario di Monserrato, set on a high “dolomitic” mountain.