Palmanova is a city in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia tourist region of eastern Italy roughly 25 miles northwest of Trieste and 16 miles south of Udine. The town of about 5,500 inhabitants is less than an hour’s drive from the border with Slovenia and not much farther from Italy’s boundary with Austria.
While like most Italian cities, its origins can be traced back thousands of years; the modern city started as a fortress built by the Venetian empire in the 16th and 17th centuries to prevent attacks from Austrian and Turkish forces.
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. Piazza Grande sits in the center of the town.
The gravel-strewn hexagon is commonly used today as a place to set up temporary buildings for various festivals. But it could still easily serve as a parade ground for troops in formation. Piazza Grande sits in the center of the town. Six roads lead away from here. A series of roughly circular ring roads connect them. Three of the roads from the piazza pass through narrow gates that serve as the only way in and out of the town. A visit to one of the town’s two museums, the Museo Storico Militare (military history museum), can help the imagination.
The town’s other museum, the Civico Museo Storico (city history museum), is closed and undergoing renovations. It’s next to the city tourist office a few steps from Piazza Grande. The cathedral 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 niches in the facade 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.
Sursa foto: wikipedia.org
I. C.
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