«This work was completed during the captaincy of the noble Grazia Alberti, captain of the Municipality and People of Castello di Castro in the current year 1293 in the month of March».
These are the words written on the plaque on the facade of the Torre degli Alberti , also known as Torre dello Sperone. They attest to this defensive structure's being the oldest of the Pisan towers still standing in our city, and as is easily understood from the inscription, its name derives from the noblewoman Grazia Alberti.
Located between Via Portoscalas, Via Azuni, and Via Ospedale, it is the only surviving vestige of one of the ancient entrances to the historic Stampace neighborhood. Its presence harks back to the times when this neighborhood was also surrounded by defensive walls and access was through fortified gates.
The defensive walls of the Stampace neighborhood extended along what is now Via Ospedale, once called Via del Monte, and up to the Fossa di San Guglielmo. Between Piazza Yenne and the beginning of Via Manno, there was another gateway called Porta Stampace (or Porta Marina or Porta di San Giorgio), which marked the boundary with the Marina neighborhood. This fortified structure was likely demolished in the second half of the 19th century. Today, the Torre degli Alberti is incorporated into a complex of buildings including the Military Hospital of San Michele.
A little-known curiosity concerns the name of the adjacent Via Portoscalas, once known as "Via delle cucine," which runs alongside the building. In reality, it was initially called "Porta Scalas" and appears to have changed its name following an original interpretation of its past.
It is said, in fact, that a city councilor convinced the administration at the time to change the name to "Portoscalas" by arguing that, in ancient times, the sea reached as far as the steps that lead from Corso Vittorio Emanuele to the front of the tower, transforming that stretch of road into a sort of port.