Il Cassero di Porta di Sant'Angelo: a medieval sentry tower

Nestled within Perugia's Sant'Angelo district lies a silent sentinel - not a standard gate, but a tower: Il Cassero di Porta di Sant'Angelo. Constructed in 1325 by Lorenzo Maitani, the cassero was part of a second circle of Perugian city walls. Its distinctive construction materials - sandstone at the base, limestone in the center, and brick on top - indicate the time of its creation. Initially conceived as a fortification, the cassero was later expanded in 1327 by the Abbot of Monmaggiore to serve as a barracks.

From 1416 to 1424, it underwent renewals under the designs of Fioravante Fioravanti from Bologna. By 1479, it had been transformed into a fortino, complete with a portcullis, trapdoors, and loopholes. While it functioned more as a tower with a sentry role than a door, it stands as a testament to the city's medieval history. Nearby, until the 18th century, the Cassero di San Matteo by Matteo Gattaponi was also visible.

Currently, the tower houses an exhibition that anticipates the birth of a music collection, managed by the Associazione Arte & Musica nelle terre del Perugino. Within its walls are rare pieces such as original scores by Carlo Dardocci from the second half of the 18th century and Angelo Galimberti from the second half of the 19th century, as well as numerous table fortepianos, baroque and 19th-century flutes, lutes, and 19th-century guitars.

Il Cassero di Porta di Sant'Angelo is also captured in history through art, as it is visible in the Gonfalone della Giustizia painted by Perugino between 1496 and 1498, which is preserved in the Galleria nazionale dell'Umbria.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons