The Rocca del Leone is an elaborate fortification built by Frederic II of Swabia, around 1247. His plan was to make it part of acentral defensive system that crossed the whole of Italy. The old village was destroyed and rebuilt by Friar Elia da Cortona, a contemporary of Saint Francis and former general director of the Franciscan order; he was later responsible for the design of the Saint’s Basilica in Assisi. The fortress has an irregular pentagonal shape with four towers; the highest triangular tower rises to about 30 metres.
