The Montaperti Battlefield 2

Some more photos of the area around the Montaperti battlefield.





This is the ridge which continues roughly south of Monselvoli. The photo was taken from the top of one of the curious mounds which can be found at various points. I suspect these are a combination of mineral outcrops added to with shifted material.
The apartment blocks are part of Arbia and are roughly north west of the camera position, The river is around 400m beyond and Siena is in the distance. There is direct line of sight with the city so the tale of a keen eyed observer watching the battle from a tower are not infeasible. The steepness of the slope can be judged.



Slightly south of the previous panorama. The mound I mentioned above can be seen. The line of trees beyond the green field shows the position of the river. There is virtually no flat land between the river and the start of the slope anywhere south of the village. The fairly new apartments have been built on land which appears to have been partially levelled.



Slightly north of the first panorama. The mound can again be seen. As a sense of scale the path around it was at least 2m wide.



This is around half a mile to the south east. It shows the ridge shown in the other photos from the eastern side.

When playing the battle, I assumed that the Florentine forces were not on this ridge to begin with. There would be little room for the Sienese army to cross the river and assemble if the Guelphs were already in command of this ground.