The original nucleus of the Boccale Castle is represented by a watchtower built by the Medici in the Sixteenth century, probably on the ruins of a previous structure built by the Republic of Pisa in medieval times. Only the keeper and some soldiers stayed at the castle, and its size was small, so that there was no room for artillery.
During the second half of the Nineteenth century the castle was transformed adapting the remains of one of the many lookout towers that dominated the coast and constituted the complex system defense of the Medici family. Each tower was in direct visual link with the neighboring ones. Their duty was to recognize and and report any danger that arose from the sea. This particular tower certainly was in contact with the Calafuria and Antignano towers.
In the late Nineteenth century the tower became property of th Marchesa Eleonora Ugolini and was incorporated into a Medieval-style style residence that included battlements. Later the house passed to the Witaker-Ingham family who in the early Twentieth century removed the battlements, replacing them with normal-pitch sloping roofs.
The castle has been recently restored after a long period of neglect. It was split into several residential apartments, while a small tower used as a warehouse was rebuilt in the park. They say that Giovanni Boccaccio got his inspiration here for the tenth story of the second day of the Decameron, which tells of the beautiful Chinzica kidnapped by Paganin from Sea at a certain tower of Montenero.
The Boccale Castle is located at the beginning of the Romito cliff, a short distance from the Tower of Calafuria and Castello Sonnino.
The complex is composed of a rectangular body surrounded by three small round towers. The ancient Medici tower rises on the side closest to the sea. It’s windows and roofing configuration have been atered from the original. This tower has a square base of about 5.7 meters on each side and used to be 13 meters high above the original plan with an inclined wall of 4.85 meters.
The main body of the castle is marked by two rows of large stone-framed windows. Under the gutter line runs a row of shelves, over which used to be the battlements, before the Witaker restored the tower.
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