Palmanova Italy - The Star Fort



PALMANOVA (Italy), a fortified town shaped like a nine-point star, was founded by the Venetian Republic at the end of the 16th century, in order to defend its eastern borders both from the Hasburg Empire and from the Turks, who, formerly, had ruinously invaded Friuli and nearly reached Treviso. It was built according to Giulio Savorgnan's designs.



In Francesco Di Giorgio Martini's treatise on 16th century architecture a great deal of apparently immaginary and ideal town-plans are extensively shown; nevertheless, these plans and sketches then turned out to be someting real, in that they were later developed and realized not only in Italy but also all over Europe through the exploitation and working-out of the Reneissance main ideas expressed by architects, philosopher and treatise-writers.



Palmanova is today one of the very few integral specimens not only of fortified town but also of urbanistically ideal town .
Many importants dates have marked its history. It was founded in October 1593: the new fortress, erected in the Friulan plains, was christened Palma on the 22th anniversary of Lepanto naval victory over the Turks, in which the Venetian Republic had taken part with a big fleet.



Palma remained a Venetian dominion until 1797; with the decline and fall of the Serenissima, first Austria occupied the fortress (1797-1805) and then France (1805 - 1814). Its fortifications were enlarged under the napoleonic rule. From 1866 it was under the rule of Italy.