Forty-one towers and seven bastions for five kilometers of walls, still almost intact today: this is the extraordinary historical heritage that the tiny village of Ston can boast, nestled between sea and hills along the road that on the Split-Dubrovnik coastal road leads to the Pelješac peninsula.

Remained unscathed by almost seven centuries of more or less devastating wars, the last one involving Croatia with the former Yugoslav roommates, the complex is now one of the most unique in the world, given that the length of its walls, entirely walkable, after a patient restoration work that lasted years and is not yet finished, it is second only to the unbeatable one of the Great Wall of China.

The enormous effort of their construction began with the foundation of the city, in 1333: it was immediately necessary to proceed to create a sufficiently valid fortification to defend the precious salt marshes that had been built nearby, on the coast well protected by the Peljesac peninsula.

It was one of the largest urban-military construction sites in Europe and required almost two centuries for its construction, an infinite lapse of time during which the port and the salt flats were subjected to assaults from the sea, always rejected thanks to the shape of the places. At the end of the work, hailed in the sixteenth century as an engineering masterpiece of all time, towers, walls and fortresses cut the peninsula in two, making the town one of the safest places in the then known world.

When the Republic of Ragusa went down, the city of Ston with its walls also went down, which became the object of systematic looting by the new inhabitants who procured the necessary building material there, until a powerful earthquake gave them the coup de grace. But the patient restoration work to which the Croatian authorities decided to submit the complex succeeded in bringing back to life that incomparable snake of stones, which has now become one of the most unique attractions in the country.

There are numerous buildings worthy of a thorough visit, from Veliki Kastio, the most imposing fortress erected on the southwestern side, near the salt pans, to the fortress of Koruna, near the walls of Mali Ston, from the Bartolomeo fort, on the hill of Pozvizd, to the Franciscan monastery. As they say on these occasions, a real treasure chest, carefully guarded and shown to the world with great pride.

The view from the walls is astounding: the panorama that can be admired from the Pozvidz fortress is particularly striking, from which the eye can understand in a single shot the entire perimeter of the fortifications and the small port below, characterized by an extraordinary emerald colored water.

Outside the walls, the salt fields, to protect which the construction of that imposing protective belt was started, are still in operation: it is the oldest complex of its kind in Europe, divided into regular basins to each of which was named after a saint.

In this way, perhaps to thank those who are higher up for having contributed to safeguarding a true jewel of ancient architecture.