Securing the Mediterranean. Cosimo i de’ Medici and Portoferraio

Abstract

Current scholarship on Cosimo i de’ Medici’s sixteenth-century fortification of Elba’s harbor city of Portoferraio, and representations of it, largely disregard Portoferraio’s political and strategic importance. One of the duke’s primary goals was to establish Tuscany as a maritime state; another was to defend the Tuscan coast. Raids by Barbary corsairs and Ottoman Turks were a frequent threat. Analysis of the art (e.g. Giorgio Vasari’s Cosimo i Visiting the Fortifications on Elba and Domenico Poggini’s portrait medal of Cosimo i) that defined, celebrated, and promoted Portoferraio’s acquisition and fortification supports the city’s importance not only in expanding Cosimo’s territorial presence on the Mediterranean, but also in securing the Italian coast.