Muzeu Permanent exhibits at the Spanish fortress of Porto Santo Stefano

The Fortezza Spagnola is a coastal fortification dating back to the early XVII Century, strategically positioned within the historic center of Porto Santo Stefano.

Used for military and defensive purposes, it’s considered unique in its esthetic originality. It appears as an imposing complex with a quadrangular floor plan made up of two buildings huddled together. The one with a lower height is on the side that faces the sea. On the inner side, corresponding with the scarp foundations, there were once tanks holding water for the garrison. The fortress, nowadays completely renovated, accomodates two permanent exhibits preluding a future Sea Museum, namely the Museo dei Maestri d'Ascia (Museum of Master Shipbuilders) and the Memorie Sommerse (Submerged Memories) display.

The Memorie Sommerse display has the primary aim of going through all the phases of underwater archeological research, starting with an empirical phase, all the way to the presentation of the results of scientific research in the 1980s and 1990s. The museum itinerary occupies two floors of the fortress, and the displayed items, mostly from the Roman era, were found in the waters surrounding the islands of Giannutri, del Giglio, delle Formiche di Grosseto, and the Argentario coast. At the second floor, there is a section dedicated to the discovery of the archaic shipwreck (VI Century BC) of Campese (del Giglio Island). Among the numerous items which were rescued from the wreck, we point out a core of seven wind instruments, which served as a base for an important study by archeologist Simona Rafanelli and musician Stefano Cocco Cantini, regarding Etruscan music.

On the first floor, beside the ticket office, there are two rooms dedicated to the «master shipbuilders». Here, we find evidence of the art of naval carpentry and scale models of the most typical fishing boats, from the most ancient to the most modern crafts that still today navigate the Argentario sea.