Polygonal Walls of Amelia
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Polygonal Walls of Amelia

The city of Amelia, defended to the north by a rocky spur, is surrounded almost entirely by an imposing ring of walls that today appears as the sum of different techniques and styles, recounting in its stratification centuries of renovations, reconstructions, restorations and extensions of the city’s defence system. The Amerine walls represent one of the city’s most imposing monumental and archaeological emergencies, as well as an important example of polygonal work, a building technique that involves the construction of a wall face consisting of large, irregularly shaped limestone blocks. The blocks are stacked on top of each other without the use of mortar, while the stability of the wall face is guaranteed solely by the weight of these enormous stones.

Amelia’s city walls extend for more than 2 kilometres around the historic centre, with a height of 6 metres and more, and a thickness of 3.50 metres. From the study of the preserved segments, it was assumed that it enclosed an area of more than 20 hectares. They have an irregular shape that adapts to the topographical conformation of the area: on the southern slope, where the city is more exposed, they are more imposing, while to the north they trace the natural defence system consisting of steep walls overlooking the Rio Grande.

The walls have six gates, four of which are still used today as entrances to the historic city centre, while the other two entrances are the original ones: on the east side is Porta del Sole, located above street level, while in 2008 the southwest entrance, known as Porta Pantanelli, was rediscovered. A pedestrian route now makes it possible to walk outside along the entire perimeter of the walls.

Section of the defensive walls of Amelia with overlap between the polygonal and later medieval building phases

Polygonal walls of Amelia

A section of the opus polygonal defensive wall of Amelia with a woman walking close to the wall and casting her shadow on the large irregularly squared blocks that make up the wall face.

Polygonal wall of Amelia

Detail of the polygonal construction technique used in the construction of the walls defending the city of Amelia. The image shows how the irregularly shaped blocks rest on each other without the use of binders

Polygonal wall of Amelia

The building phases

Amelia’s polygonal walls were built on the town’s previous defensive layout. Although the dating of the first construction phase of the walls, erected at geographically uncovered points of the city to be defended, is still debated, it is placed in a period prior to the Roman conquest. A monumental portion of the first defensive system can be seen at the junction of Via della Valle with Via Piacenti, near Porta della Valle. Here must have been the passageway leading to the arx, the pre-Roman acropolis, which disappeared following the demolition of the innermost circle of walls.

Later, the city was provided with a mighty polygonal wall, built at the time when Amelia became part of Roman rule, between the end of the fourth and third centuries BC.

A substantial part of Amelia’s walls, probably the southernmost, may have been erected after the mid-third century BC., coinciding with the first planning of the urban layout, when the town took on the typical features of Roman municipalities. In the upper part and at other points of the city wall, the defensive work is, on the other hand, of the late Roman and medieval period. These sections are perhaps less interesting than those in polygonal work, but they contribute to the continuity of the development of Amelia’s imposing defensive perimeter.

A substantial part of Amelia’s walls, probably the southernmost, may have been erected after the mid-3rd century BC, coinciding with the first planning of the urban layout. From this time on, the city took on the typical features of Roman municipalities with the progressive construction of numerous public buildings such as the forum and private residences, such as the domus of Palazzo Venturelli (1st century BC). The city also provided itself with water supply facilities, evidenced by the presence of a monumental underground cistern built around the middle of the 1st century BC.

A curiosity

The polygonal opus quadratum building technique, with its mighty square blocks, has ignited the imagination of numerous scholars over the centuries, who, in the past, began to call it by sometimes fanciful names, attributing its construction to mythological peoples. Eighteenth-century travellers had renamed the polygonal walls as “Pelasgic” or “Cyclopean” walls, attributing their construction to the Pelasgian people or to the Cyclopes, one-eyed giants. Names that in the past have contributed to the fascination of these majestic architectures even more.

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