Palmanova, Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy, Europe

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• published: 04 Jul 2014
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Palmanova is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, close to the border with Slovenia. It is located 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Udine, 28 kilometres (17 mi) from Gorizia and 55 kilometres (34 mi) from Trieste near the junction of the Autostrada Alpe-Adria (A23) and the Autostrada Venezia-Trieste (A4). The entire town of Palmanova is famous for its concentric citadel or fortress plan and structure, called a star fort, imitated in the Modern era by numerous military architects. It consists of three rings, which were built in stages. The first circle, with a circumference of 7 kilometres (4 mi), was built starting in 1593; its construction took 30 years. The second phase of construction took place between 1658 and 1690. Between 1806 and 1813 the last work was performed. The fortress consists of: 9 ravelins, 9 bastions, 9 lunettes, 18 cavaliers. On 7 October 1593, the superintendent of the Republic of Venice founded a revolutionary new kind of settlement: Palmanova. The city's founding date commemorated the victory of European forces (supplied primarily by the Italian States and the Spanish kingdom) over Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Lepanto, during the War of Cyprus. Also honored on 7 October was Saint Justina, chosen as the city's patron saint. Using all the latest military innovations of the 16th century, this small town was a fortress in the shape of a nine-pointed star, designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi. In between the points of the star, ramparts protruded so that the points could defend each other. A moat surrounded the town, and three large, guarded gates allowed entry. Marcantonio Barbaro headed a group of Venetian noblemen in charge of building the town, Marcantonio Martinego was in charge of construction, and Giulio Savorgnan acted as an adviser. The outer line of fortifications was completed under the Napoleonic domination. From 1815 to 1866 the city was under Austria, when it was annexed to Italy together with Veneto and the western Friuli. In 1960 Palmanova was declared a national monument. American professor Edward Wallace Muir Jr. said on Palmanova: "The humanist theorists of the ideal city designed numerous planned cities that look intriguing on paper but were not especially successful as livable spaces. Along the northeastern frontier of their mainland empire, the Venetians began to build in 1593 the best example of a Renaissance planned town: Palmanova, a fortress city designed to defend against attacks from the Ottomans in Bosnia. Built ex nihilo according to humanist and military specifications, Palmanova was supposed to be inhabited by self-sustaining merchants, craftsmen, and farmers. However, despite the pristine conditions and elegant layout of the new city, no one chose to move there, and by 1622 Venice was forced to pardon criminals and offer them free building lots and materials if they would agree to settle the town. Thus began the forced settlement of this magnificent planned space, which remains lifeless to this day and is visited only by curious scholars of Renaissance cities and bored soldiers who are still posted there to guard the Italian frontier". Palmanova is a city in Italy constructed during the renaissance and it is a city built following the ideals of a utopia. It is a concentric city with the form of a star, with three nine sided ring roads intersecting in the main military radiating streets. It was built at the end of the 16th century by the Venetian Republic which was, at the time, a major center of trade. It is actually considered to be a fort, or citadel, because the military architect Giulio Savorgnano designed it to be a Venetian military station on the eastern frontier as protection from the Ottoman Empire. During the renaissance many ideas of a utopia, both as a society and as a city, surfaced. Utopia was considered to be a place where there was perfection in the whole of its society. This ideas started by Sir Thomas More, when he wrote the book Utopia. The book described the physical features of a city as well as the life of the people who lived in it. His book sparked a flame in literary circles. A great many other books of similar nature were written in short order. They all followed a major theme: equality. Everyone had the same amount of wealth, respect, and life experiences. The society had a calculated elimination of variety and a monotonous environment. The city where they lived was always geometric in shape, and was surrounded by a wall. These walls provided military strength, but also protected the city by preserving and passing on man's knowledge. The knowledge, learning and science gave form to the daily life of the people living inside the walls. The knowledge of each person was shared by the entire society, and there was no way to let any information either in or out. As Thomas More said in his book, "He that knows one knows them all, they are so alike one another".