Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th Centuries: Stato da Terra – Western Stato da Mar

The upper city is surrounded by walls, a masterpiece of military engineering built by the Venetians during their domination of Lombardy in the 1500s. The city walls of Bergamo, created for political motives and never actually used for defence, stand like a giant fortress with bastions, equipped with escape routes and roads for supplies, cannon stations, halls for troops and armouries.

Located on Lake Garda, for centuries Peschiera was a military stronghold. Over time, it became a formidable war machine: in the 1500s the Venetians built the small fort, or rather a fortified castle, in the shape of a pentagon. It was then expanded by Napoleon and the Austrians, who reinforced the system with seven fortresses. At the time, Peschiera was part of the Quadrilatero: along with Verona, Legnago and Mantua, it was meant to protect the valley of the Adige River and the road to Austria.

Over the ages, Palmanova has maintained its nine-pointed star shape within which is a regular nonagon with a series of interior ring roads and a hexagonal town square. This fortress city was built by the Venetian state as an eastern defence city, though it never actually held a particularly important role in that respect. Today, it’s one of the best-preserved examples of military architecture and the idea of an ideal city of the Renaissance.

The fortress city of Bergamo is the easternmost example of the Stato da Terra defence system of La Serenissima, created to defend against European powers. The city walls of Bergamo were built between 1561 and 1588 by the Republic of Venice based on the designs by engineers Francesco Malacreda and Genesio Bersani to control enemy attacks, even if it was never besieged. The fortifications extend for more than 6 kilometres and include 14 bastions, 2 platforms, 100 openings for cannons, 2 gunpowder magazines, and 4 gates: Sant’Agostino, San Giacomo, Sant’Alessandro and Garibaldi (previously San Lorenzo). To build the walls, over 250 buildings were demolished, 8 of which were religious (including the Cathedral of Sant’Alessandro and the Dominican convent of Santo Stefano). This was the reason for the eight excommunications launched during the works. Some sections of the fortified walls were already present in the Roman era. But at the start of the 1500s, they were in a state of extreme disrepair, destined to be almost entirely replaced by the new constructions. Once the work was finished, the perimeter of the fortification was entirely new, without a single part of the previous defensive walls. The perimeter includes the Venetian fortress system in its complexity of its internal (bastioned) and external walls, with fortified elements such as the Castles of San Vigilio and of San Domenico, the Citadel and the Rocca Fortress.

The fortress city of Peschiera del Garda, for such a vast, branched-out state, was an essential point of connection between Venice and its easternmost territories found beyond the Mincio River.
It’s characterised by a pentagon-shaped plan and includes an inhabited centre within the bastioned walls. Of the entire fortress system, it’s the only one located next to a lake. Hydraulic elements were included in the fortifications, such as the Mezzo Canal and the ramification of the Mincio River, which was already navigable in Roman times.

When the stronghold of Peschiera came under the rule of the Republic of Venice, the fortifications were updated according to the criteria adopted at that time: the walls were then terrepleined and bastioned based on the project drafted by Guidobaldo della Rovere. This new, alla moderna ring of fortified walls traced the shape of the medieval ones, thus it had five sides but also five corners protected by bastions. Two gates (Porta Verona and Porta Brescia) were placed in the walls, heading in the directions of the streets that led to the important cities they were named after. Around the mid-1500s, the Rocca Scaligera was modified and terrepleined to adapt it to the needs of modern artillery. In 1797, the fortress passed under the rule of the Austrian Empire, whose rulers transformed it into a stronghold which became a robust citadel in the Quadrilatero along with Legnago, Mantua and Verona.

Palmanova was founded on 7 October 1593, designed to accommodate 20,000 people. The city fortress was to constitute the strategic centre for neutralising attacks by the Ottomans coming from the east, and attacks from Austria. It is the only newly founded city to be added to the UNESCO site, and it is the perfect synthesis of military aspects and the civil aspects of a utopian Renaissance city. The star fort city was an urban nucleus covering 70 hectares within three rings of concentric walls (two Venetian walls and one French wall, the perimeter) which give Palmanova its nine-pointed star shape. The inhabited area is organised into strict geometric modules which echo the form of the fortified perimeter. These two elements are a whole in which each construction is connected, in form and function, to the military structure. Palmanova, for more than 200 years, was under the rule of La Serenissima (1593-1797), until Napoleon conquered it. After the fall of Napoleon, Palmanova was part of the heterogeneous Hapsburg Empire until 1866, with the single parenthesis of the 1848 uprising, when the fortress city underwent a long siege by the Austrian troops.

Buonaiuto Lorini (1540 – 1611) began his career in Florence in the circle of the technicians of Cosimo I de’ Medici, who introduced him to the workshop of Bernardo Buontalenti. Between 1568 and 1572, he was in Philip II’s army in Flanders, where he saw the fortified architecture built by Italian architects. Shortly afterwards, he returned to Italy and worked in the territory of the Venetian Republic, where a large project to update and transform the strongholds was launched. In 1579, he came into contact with the leading majors of La Serenissima, including the Superintendent of Fortresses, Giulio Savorgnan and the Captain General of the militia in Terraferma, Sforza Pallavicino, and Lorini was subsequently hired as a military engineer. In the 1580s, he was the director of the adaptation and restructuring of a few fortresses scattered in Terraferma and the islands of the Dalmatian Coast, which was the Venetian border most exposed to the advances of the Turks. He then continued on to the adaptation of the fortresses of Rab and Zara where, in addition to the restoration of a few barracks in the fortress, he oversaw the repairs to the foundations and the fortification of the port, which he “enclosed in walls founded in cases of his own invention”. It is also quite likely that he also had a hand in the citadel, creating a series of structures in earth, which were more secure and less costly than those in masonry, excavated in large part in the bare rock. The first project that he was engaged in continuously was the 1590 construction, under the supervision of Sforza Pallavicino, of the walls of Bergamo. Lorini may have handled not only their execution, but also their design. He began working on the construction of Brescia’s defence system in 1591. In 1592, Lorini worked with Giulio Savorgnan and Antonio Martinengo to plan Palmanova, built by the Republic of Venice to defend against the Turks and other Empires. Set on a site which was carefully selected by the builders of the fortresses based on the advice of the architects, Palma as well as the Dutch city of Coevorden (1597) concluded the “16th-century trend of newly founded military cities”. In 1597, Lorini wrote a five-book treatise which gathered the results of his work: Delle fortificazioni.

► “[Bergamo] è tutta serrata con baluardi e i suoi membri quasi tutti terrapienati, compite le piazze, i parapetti e le traverse per coprirsi dalle vicine colline e la fortezza col circuito di tre miglie è bellissima”.

Alvise Grimani, comandante veneto, 1590

► “Hoggi habbiamo deliberato, adherendo anco in ciò al prudente vostro consiglio, cioè che il nome della fortezza sia Palma, il che pregheremo il Signore Iddio che sia col suo servitio et con la felicità della nostra e di tutta le Repubblica”.

Marc’Antonio Barbaro, primo provveditore generale di Palmanova, 1593

► “E Peschiera una piccola terra posta quasi nel mezzo tra Verona e Brescia, sulla bocca del Lago di Garda, detto dagli antichi Benaco, per la comodità del sito di tanla importanza; che dicono, che passando per di là Carlo V Imperatore, essendo sul ponte che divide la terra in due parti, e guardandosi intorno disse: «questo è un bel sito ed è poco considerato». Le quali parole, raccolte e riportate da questo a quello, forse sono state cagione che si faccia la presente fortezza in quel luogo, come per sicurezza di avere sempre il passo libero da poter andare da Verona a Brescia, e di venire di là in qua e difendere che altri non vi possano passare; che per conservazione e sicurezza dello stato della Illustrissima Signoria è di grandissima importanza, essendo che dissopra vi è il lago, e di sotto il fiume, che non si può passare così facilmente, di modo che si può dire che Peschiera sia il ponte e la porta per passare da queste nostre parti in Lombardia”.

Andrea Minucci, medico, arcivescovo e scrittore italiano, XVI sec.

Sabbioneta, built between 1544 and 1591, is surrounded by walls with arrowhead bastions, complete with terrepleins. The fortifications of Sabbioneta follow the indications presented in the treatises on military architecture for alla moderna walls which are also found in Bergamo, Peschiera and Palmanova. Vespasiano Gonzaga, lord and designer of Sabbioneta, was a military engineer in the court of Philip II of Spain during the same time as Benauito Lorini, who designed the Venetian walls. In addition, Palmanova and Sabbioneta were newly-founded cities, while Mantua, Bergamo, and Peschiera were the results of transformation of pre-existent places.

F.P. Fiore, L’architettura militare di Venezia, in terraferma e in Adriatico fra XVI e XVII secolo: atti del convegno internazionale di studi Palmanova, teatro Gustavo Modena, 8-10 novembre 2013, Firenze, Olschki, 2014.

whc.unesco.org

www.unesco-venetianfortresses.com

The upper city is surrounded by walls, a masterpiece of military engineering built by the Venetians during their domination of Lombardy in the 1500s. The city walls of Bergamo, created for political motives and never actually used for defence, stand like a giant fortress with bastions, equipped with escape routes and roads for supplies, cannon stations, halls for troops and armouries.

Located on Lake Garda, for centuries Peschiera was a military stronghold. Over time, it became a formidable war machine: in the 1500s the Venetians built the small fort, or rather a fortified castle, in the shape of a pentagon. It was then expanded by Napoleon and the Austrians, who reinforced the system with seven fortresses. At the time, Peschiera was part of the Quadrilatero: along with Verona, Legnago and Mantua, it was meant to protect the valley of the Adige River and the road to Austria.

Over the ages, Palmanova has maintained its nine-pointed star shape, within which is a regular nonagon with a series of interior ring roads and a hexagonal town square. This fortress city was built by the Venetian state as an eastern defence city, though it never actually held a particularly important role in that respect. Today, it’s one of the best-preserved examples of military architecture and the idea of an ideal city of the Renaissance.

The fortress city of Bergamo is the easternmost example of the Stato da Terra defence system of La Serenissima, created to defend against European powers. The city walls of Bergamo were built between 1561 and 1588 by the Republic of Venice to control enemy attacks, even if it was never besieged. The fortifications extend for more than 6 kilometres and include 14 bastions, 2 platforms, 100 openings for cannons, 2 gunpowder magazines, and 4 gates. Some sections of the fortified walls were already present in the Roman era. But at the start of the 1500s, they were in a state of extreme disrepair, destined to be almost entirely replaced by the new constructions. Once the work was finished, the perimeter of the fortification was entirely new, without a single part of the previous defensive walls. The perimeter includes the Venetian fortress system in its complexity of its internal (bastioned) and external walls, with fortified elements such as the Castles of San Vigilio and of San Domenico, the Citadel and the Rocca Fortress.

The fortress city of Peschiera del Garda was a point of connection between Venice and its easternmost territories found beyond the Mincio River. In a pentagonal plan, it includes an inhabited centre and water elements such as the Mezzo Canal, which was already navigable since Roman times. When the stronghold of Peschiera came under the rule of the Republic of Venice, its fortifications were updated according to the criteria adopted at that time: the walls were then terrepleined and bastioned. This new, alla moderna (trace Italienne) ring of fortified walls traced the shape of the medieval ones, meaning it had five sides and also five corners protected by bastions. Two gates (Porta Verona and Porta Brescia) were placed in the walls, heading in the directions of the streets that led to the important cities they were named after. Around the mid-1500s, the Rocca Scaligera was modified and terrepleined to adapt it to the needs of modern artillery. In 1797, the fortress passed under the rule of the Austrian Empire, whose rulers transformed it into a stronghold which became a robust citadel in the Quadrilatero, along with Legnago, Mantua and Verona.

Palmanova was founded on 7 October 1593, designed to accommodate 20,000 people. The city fortress was to constitute the strategic centre for neutralising attacks by the Ottomans coming from the east, and attacks from Austria. The star fort city was an urban nucleus covering 70 hectares within three rings of concentric walls (two Venetian walls and one French wall, the perimeter) which give Palmanova its nine-pointed star shape. The inhabited area is organised into rigid geometric modules, following the form of the fortified perimeter. These two elements are a whole in which each construction is connected, in form and function, to the military structure. For more than 200 years, Palmanova was under the rule of La Serenissima (1593-1797), until Napoleon conquered it. After Napoleon’s empire collapsed, Palmanova once again became part of the Hapsburg Empire, until it was annexed into the Kingdom of Italy in 1866.

Buonaiuto Lorini (1540 – 1611) began his career in Florence among the technicians of Cosimo I de’ Medici, who introduced him to the workshop of Bernardo Buontalenti. In the 1580s, he worked in the territories belonging to the Venetian Republic, where the massive project of adapting and transforming the strongholds had been launched. He oversaw the restructuring of a few fortresses scattered throughout the Dalmatian Coast, the border of the Venetian Republic most exposed to advances by the Turks. He worked on adapting the fortresses in Rab and Zara. The first project which he was continuously committed to was the construction of the walls of Bergamo in 1590. Lorini began designing Palmanova in 1592. In 1597, Lorini wrote a five-book treatise which gathered the results of his work: Delle fortificazioni.

Sabbioneta, built between 1544 and 1591, is surrounded by walls with arrowhead bastions, complete with terrepleins. The fortifications of Sabbioneta follow the indications presented in the treatises on military architecture for alla moderna walls which are also found in Bergamo, Peschiera and Palmanova. Vespasiano Gonzaga, lord and designer of Sabbioneta, was a military engineer in the court of Philip II of Spain during the same time as Benauito Lorini, who designed the Venetian walls. In addition, Palmanova and Sabbioneta were newly-founded cities, while Mantua, Bergamo, and Peschiera were the results of transformation of pre-existent places.

Defensive systems alla moderna, meaning “modern”, are a type of fortification system used starting in 15th century Italy. The structure of the walls was modified to respond to the use of firearms and of artillery during sieges. For centuries, the development of new technologies and firearms influenced urban planning and provided new stimuli for architects and engineers. It was a topic covered by numerous treatises, especially in Italy, which brought these new models to all of Europe and the Mediterranean.

Radial road network, when the streets of a city, arranged like the radii of a circle, converge in one or more points.

Quadrilatero, a defensive system built between 1815 and 1866 by the Austrian Empire in the Lombardy-Venetian kingdom laid out on a quadrilateral plan whose points were the strongholds of Peschiera del Garda, Mantua, Legnago and Verona, between the Mincio, Po, and Adige Rivers. Within this area, Austrian armed forces could be reorganised in complete safety. To improve the functionality of this defensive system, connections between the strongholds were built, facilitated by the development of railways.

La Serenissima, singular, used to refer to the Republic of Venice.

Bastion or bulwark, a characteristic defensive element of alla moderna fortresses. Bastions are the same height as the walls and are generally found in the corners of the fortifications. They can have different shapes (generally circular or in the shape of an arrowhead). Their purpose was to protect the straight portions of the wall and allow for the cross-shooting of the artillery which was housed inside.

Terreplein, singular, a defensive structure which filled in the perimeter of a wall with dirt, thereby stopping the fracture of the wall due to artillery and weapons.

Dalmatian Coast, the coast on the east side of the Adriatic Sea, extending from Croatia to the border between Montenegro and Albania.