Hebrew-English Guide to Soncino

25 THE FORTRESS THE FORTRESS The oldest news concerning a “castellum” dates back to the 10th cen- tury, when a first city wall was built as a shelter to oppose the arrival of the Hungarians. In 1200 the ancient castle, situated in the eastern area of the village, was besieged and destroyed by Milan and Brescia. Since then, Son- cino was disputed by the main Lombardy municipalities. In 1283 a new fortress is mentioned. In 1312 it was occupied by Cremona and in 1391 the Milanese tran- sformed it into a shelter against the Venetians. After the conquest of Brescia, in 1426, by the Serenissima, the walls and the fortress were reinforced to support the attacks of the Venetians. The peace of Lodi of 1454 definitively sanctioned the boundaries between the Republic of Venice and the Dukedom of Milan, to whi- ch Soncino was assigned. In 1469 Galeazzo Maria Sforza sent the architects Serafino Gavazzi from Lodi and Bartolomeo Gadio from Cremona to Soncino to pre- pare the projects for the new fortress, in the south-western area. The work started in 1473 under the direction of Bartolomeo Gadio.