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48-659: Nicosia, like Palmanova in Italy, and Valletta in Malta, was an example of an ideal city of the Renaissance . This was due to its fortifications and its urban life within the city. The first fortification in Nicosia was a castle built in 1211, during the Lusignan period . A large tower called Margarita Tower was built by King Peter I in 1368. Peter II built the first fortifications surrounding

96-400: A bastioned enceinte , with nine cavaliers and a ditch. The city was to be designed along a grid plan , and was to include a naval arsenal and a Manderaggio (harbour for small ships). The city's first stone was laid by Grand Master Jean de Valette on 28 March 1566, and the new city was called Valletta in his honour. The city walls were among the first structures to be built within

144-588: A commission to inspect the Maltese Islands. Back then, the only fortification on the peninsula was a militia watchtower built by the Aragonese in 1488. The tower was strengthened in 1533, but the proposed city was not built since the Order focused on building the fortifications of Birgu , which had become their base. In 1551, an Ottoman force briefly attacked Malta, and then sacked Gozo and captured Tripoli , and as

192-436: 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. 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

240-506: 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 second phase of construction took place between 1658 and 1690, and the outer line of fortifications was completed between 1806 and 1813 under the Napoleonic domination . The final fortress consists of: nine ravelins , nine bastions , nine lunettes , and eighteen cavaliers . In 1815

288-580: A part of it remains since most of it was filled in with rubble. The enceinte along the side facing Marsamxett Harbour starts from St. Michael's Bastion of the Valletta Land Front, and ends at St. Gregory's Bastion of Fort St. Elmo. It consists of the following: The enceinte along the side facing the Grand Harbour starts from St. Peter and St. Paul Bastion of the Valletta Land Front, and ends at St. Ubaldesca Curtain of Fort St. Elmo. It consists of

336-567: A relief force arrived, and the siege was lifted. After the Order survived the siege, it received financial support from Europe, which was used to construct the new capital city on the Sciberras Peninsula. The Italian engineer Francesco Laparelli was sent by the Pope to design the city's fortifications, which were designed along the Italian bastioned system . Laparelli's original design consisted of

384-603: A result, the Order set up a commission to improve the island's fortifications. In 1552, the Aragonese watchtower was demolished and Fort Saint Elmo was built in its place. The fort played a significant role in the Great Siege of Malta of 1565. It eventually fell after a month of fierce fighting (in which the Ottoman general Dragut was killed). The knights held out in Birgu and Senglea until

432-708: A revolutionary new kind of settlement: Palmanova. The city’s founding date commemorated the victory of the Christian forces (supplied primarily by the Italian states and the Spanish kingdom ) over the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, 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

480-421: A series of defensive walls and other fortifications which surround Valletta , the capital city of Malta . The first fortification to be built was Fort Saint Elmo in 1552, but the fortifications of the city proper began to be built in 1566 when it was founded by Grand Master Jean de Valette . Modifications were made throughout the following centuries, with the last major addition being Fort Lascaris which

528-686: Is a town and comune (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Udine in Friuli-Venezia Giulia , northeast Italy . The town is an example of a star fort of the late Renaissance , built up by the Venetian Republic in 1593. The fortifications were included in UNESCO 's World Heritage Site list as part of Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th centuries: Stato da Terra – western Stato da Mar in 2017. Palmanova

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576-458: Is located in front of the town hall of Palmanova (formerly the Palace of Provveditore ). Commissioned in 1603, the construction started later that year under Inspector Girolamo Cappello and was completed in 1636. The identities of any architects are uncertain, but may have been Vincenzo Scamozzi and Baldassare Longhena . The Duomo was not consecrated until 1777 after the town had been included into

624-517: Is made of stone from Istria , and was restored in 2000. Palmanova can be reached from the nearby motorways, A23 (Udine-Tarvisio) and A4 (Turin-Trieste) and by the railway between Udine and Cervignano There are also bus connections. Palmanova is twinned with: 45°54′19.45″N 13°18′35.92″E  /  45.9054028°N 13.3099778°E  / 45.9054028; 13.3099778 Fortifications of Valletta The fortifications of Valletta ( Maltese : Is-Swar tal-Belt Valletta ) are

672-405: Is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). Found in the southeast part of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia , it is 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Udine , 28 kilometres (17 mi) from Gorizia and 55 kilometres (34 mi) from Trieste , near the junction of the motorways A23 and A4 . On 7 October 1593, the Venetian Republic founded

720-564: The Archbishopric of Udine . The bell tower of the Duomo, erected in 1776, was deliberately made short because enemies attacking the city should not be able to see the Duomo from outside the city walls. The niches in the façade contain statues representing the saints Justina of Padua , one of Padua 's patron saints, and Mark , as well as a statue of Christ , the Redeemer . The façade itself

768-570: The French invasion of Malta on 9 June 1798. The Order capitulated only three days later on 12 June, and Valletta and its fortifications were handed over to the French. Upon viewing the fortifications, Napoleon reportedly remarked "I am very glad that they opened the gate for us." A couple of months after the beginning of the French occupation, the Maltese people rebelled against the French and blockaded them in

816-629: The Saluting Battery , remained in use until after World War II , with Fort St. Elmo being decommissioned in 1972. The fortifications were included on the Antiquities List of 1925. In the 1960s, the 19th century Porta Reale was demolished to make way for a modern City Gate . The first plans to restore the fortifications of Valletta, along with those of Birgu , Mdina and the Cittadella , were made in 2006. Restoration started in 2010, with

864-420: The curtain walls are quite low when compared to other contemporary city walls such as the fortifications of Heraklion and the fortifications of Valletta . The fortifications also lacked outworks . The flag of Nicosia ( Republic of Cyprus ) and the emblem of North Nicosia ( Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus ) are based on the layout of the walls. Palmanova Palmanova ( Friulian : Palme )

912-425: The 16th century, this small town was a fortress in the shape of a nine-pointed star, designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi . 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. The construction of the first circle, with a total circumference of 7 kilometres (4 mi), took 30 years. Marcantonio Barbaro headed

960-459: The 1960s was demolished, and a new City Gate was completed in 2014. The Valletta Land Front is the large bastioned enceinte enclosing the landward approach to the city. It consists of the following: The entire land front is surrounded by a deep ditch. Remains of a flanking battery within the ditch were unearthed in 2012. The bastions are further protected by the following outworks: The outworks were surrounded by an advanced ditch, but only

1008-447: The 20th century. The Venetian walls of Nicosia have a circular shape, with a circumference of c. 5 km (3 miles). The walls contain eleven pentagonal bastions with rounded orillons , similar to the bastions of Palmanova . The bastions are named after eleven families, pillars of the Italian aristocracy of the town, who donated funds towards the construction of the walls. The eleven bastions are: Caraffa to Tripoli Bastions lie within

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1056-571: The Harbour area with British, Neapolitan and Portuguese support. The French managed to hold out in Valletta until September 1800, when General Vaubois capitulated to the British, who took control of the islands. Various modifications were made to Valletta's fortifications during British rule. The most significant of these was the construction of Fort Lascaris between 1854 and 1856. Other alterations included

1104-550: The Mediterranean began to strengthen their fortifications. In 1567, the Venetians decided to fortify the city, and commissioned the Italian military engineers Giulio Savorgnan and Francesco Barbaro to design the new fortifications. The medieval fortifications, which engineers had deemed inadequate to defend the city, were demolished to make way for the new walls. The Venetians also demolished several houses, churches and palaces within

1152-458: 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 idea was 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

1200-420: The addition of batteries and concrete gun emplacements, changes to parapets and their embrasures, and the construction of gunpowder magazines . All three original Hospitaller gateways to Valletta were demolished, and two of them replaced by larger gates. The British proposed the demolition of the fortifications a number of times in the 19th century. The first proposal was made by Major-General Henry Pigot at

1248-462: The beginning of the century. In 1853, a proposal was made to demolish Saint James Cavalier to make way for a military hospital. In 1855, Sir John Lysaght Pennefather proposed the construction of a citadel on the high ground of the Sciberras peninsula, on the site of the Valletta Land Front and the surrounding area. In 1872, the demolition of the city's outworks was proposed, while the demolition of

1296-542: The city as well as buildings lying outside the new walls, both for the acquisition of building materials and for a clearer field of vision for the defence of the city. At the same time, the Pedieos River was diverted outside the city to protect the residents from flooding and to fill the moat encircling the new walls. The Fourth Ottoman–Venetian War broke out when the fortifications were still incomplete. Ottomans under Piali Pasha invaded Cyprus on 1 July 1570, and began

1344-423: 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." Alberti, followed by Filarete , were

1392-597: The city came under Austrian rule until 1866, when it was annexed to Italy together with Veneto and the western Friuli . Until 1918, it was the one of easternmost towns along the Italian-Austro Hungarian border and during the First World War the city worked as a military zone hosting even a hospital for the royal army. In 1960 Palmanova was declared a national monument. American professor Edward Wallace Muir Jr. said of Palmanova, "The humanist theorists of

1440-406: The city, and were largely complete by the 1570s. Some changes were made to the design while the city was being constructed, and only two cavaliers were constructed, while the arsenal and Manderaggio were never built. Fort St. Elmo, which had been severely damaged in the 1565 siege, was also rebuilt and integrated in the city walls. The city of Valletta officially became the capital city of Malta and

1488-575: The designs of part of the Fortress of Luxembourg . In an 1878 book, Valletta was described as "one of the best fortified [cities] in the world." Valletta's fortifications are the most important of the fortifications of Malta , and are now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The construction of a fortified city on the Sciberras Peninsula was first proposed in 1524, when the Order of St. John sent

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1536-558: The entire city, and also demolished the Margarita Tower. Cyprus became part of the Republic of Venice in 1489. Although the Venetian governors of the city emphasized the need for the city to be fortified, initially nothing was done to improve the fortifications. This changed following the Great Siege of Malta in 1565, when fears of Ottoman expansion increased and many Christian states in

1584-480: The entire land front was suggested in 1882. Eventually, the fortifications were left largely intact, and the only part that was demolished was St. Madeleine's Lunette, which was located near the entrance to the city (on the site now occupied by the Triton Fountain ). The fortifications were eventually decommissioned between the late 19th or early 20th centuries. Some parts, such as Fort St. Elmo, Fort Lascaris and

1632-401: The first to develop the ideas of Utopia into the plan of a city. Filarete designed a concentric city, with peaks and radiating streets, which he called Sforzinda . His geometry was the imitation of a schema representing the work. It is believed to have derived from two overlaying squares. Sforzinda later became the most influential plan in the design of Palmanova. Since Palmanova was built during

1680-477: 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 Savorgnan designed it to be a Venetian military station on the eastern frontier as protection from

1728-542: 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

1776-445: The positioning of gates to the side of the adjoining bastions, so they could be more easily protected in times of siege, and leaving the upper half of the wall unlined with masonry, to increase its ability to absorb the impact from cannon shot. Despite this, the fortifications had several shortcomings, mainly since they were still incomplete when they were captured by the Ottomans. The bastions have no piazza-bassa or cavaliers , and

1824-519: The project being described as "the biggest in a century". Squatters were evicted from public lands around the fortifications. The upper part of Fort Saint Elmo has been restored, while its lower parts have been cleaned up. The Chapel of St. Roche on St. Michael's Counterguard, which was bombed in World War II, was rebuilt in 2014 as part of the restoration. In 2011, the City Gate which had been built in

1872-451: The renaissance, it imposed geometrical harmony and followed the idea that beauty reinforces the wellness of a society. Each road and move was carefully calibrated and each part of the plan had a reason for being. Each person would have the same amount of responsibility and land, and each person had to serve a specific purpose. The concentric shape was the most prominent design move and had many reasons for being. The circular shape of Palmanova

1920-434: The seat of the Order on 18 March 1571, although it was still unfinished. By the end of the 16th century, Valletta was the largest settlement in Malta. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Valletta's fortifications were strengthened with the construction of various outworks , consisting of four counterguards along the land front, as well as a covertway and a glacis . The northern end of the peninsula, including Fort St. Elmo,

1968-422: The siege of Nicosia on 22 July. The city held out until 9 September, when the Ottomans breached the wall at Podocattaro Bastion. The Ottomans then killed the defenders and captured the remaining inhabitants. After the end of the siege, Lala Mustafa Pasha left a garrison of 4000 soldiers and 1000 cavalry in the city. The city then experienced a steady decline. Although the Ottomans repaired the fortifications after

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2016-413: The siege, by the early 17th century, they were "breached or decayed" and the city was practically defenceless. The city eventually began to experience a revival in the mid-19th century. It was still confined within the walls when the British occupied Cyprus in 1878. An opening was made near Paphos Gate in 1879 to facilitate access to the surrounding area. Further openings were made within the walls during

2064-611: The southern half of the city, in the Republic of Cyprus. Roccas to Loredan Bastions lie in the Turkish-occupied north, while Flatro Bastion lies in the UN Buffer Zone . The city has three gates: Experts have considered the walls to be a prime example of 16th century military architecture . Their design incorporates specific innovative techniques, marking the beginning of a renaissance era in fortification construction. These include

2112-765: The suburb of Floriana developed in the area between the Floriana Lines and the Valletta Land Front, and it is now a town in its own right. The flanks of the city were further protected in the 17th and 18th century, with the construction of the Santa Margherita Lines , Cottonera Lines and Fort Ricasoli on the Grand Harbour side, and Fort Manoel and Fort Tigné on the Marsamxett side. Further proposals, including construction of fortifications on Corradino and Ta' Xbiex , were also made but were never implemented. The fortifications of Valletta first saw use during

2160-525: Was also enclosed in a bastioned enceinte (known as the Carafa Enceinte) in the late 1680s to prevent a landing from the sea. Despite the modifications, it was realized that the walls of Valletta were not strong enough to withstand a long siege. In 1635, construction of the Floriana Lines commenced, enclosing Valletta's land front. The Floriana Lines were also modified until the 18th century. Later on,

2208-448: Was completed in 1856. Most of the fortifications remain largely intact today. The city of Valletta, along with Nicosia in Cyprus, was considered to be a practical example of an ideal city of the Renaissance , and this was due to its fortifications as well as the urban life within the city. The fortifications were well known throughout Europe by the 17th century, and might have influenced

2256-430: Was greatly influenced by the fact that it needed to be a fort. At the time of its construction, many other urban theoreticians found the checkerboard was more useful, but it could not provide the protection that military architects desired. The walls of a practical fort are run at angles so that enemy soldiers could not approach it easily because the angles made it possible to establish overlapping fields of fire. The Duomo

2304-414: 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." Palmanova was built following the ideals of a utopia . It is a concentric city with

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