San Giovanni Fortress — Why the Walls Climb the Mountain
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
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Transcript
Kotor’s most extraordinary defensive feature is vertical. Walls climb hundreds of metres above the old town toward the fortress known as San Giovanni or Sveti Ivan.
The reason is simple: a city protected only at sea level could be dominated by an enemy holding the slopes above it.
Successive rulers strengthened the mountain defences, linking lower walls with higher fortifications and lookouts. The result turned terrain itself into part of the fortress.
The climb also reveals Kotor’s vulnerability. The old town occupies an extremely small piece of flat ground between water and rock. Geography created the harbour and constrained the city at the same time.
From above, the walls stop looking decorative. They become a continuous attempt to secure a port whose strategic value came precisely from the same mountains and sheltered bay that made defence so difficult.