The Venetian Works of defence between 15th and 17th centuries
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How it came to be
The Republic of Venice fortified its mainland territories, the Stato da Terra, and its maritime ones, the Stato da Mar. In 1428 the Duchy of Milan ceded Bergamo to Venice. The six inscribed fortifications stretch for more than 1,000 km from Lombardy to the eastern Adriatic coast.
The walls of Kotor in Montenegro date from the 15th century, and those of Bergamo and the Fort of St Nikola at Šibenik in Croatia from the 16th. Zadar, Peschiera del Garda and Palmanova were completed in the 17th century.
Palmanova was founded on 7 October 1593 as a fortress town against attacks from the Ottomans in Bosnia. The date marked the anniversary of the victory at Lepanto in 1571, and the town took the form of a nine-pointed star around a six-sided square. A second phase ran from 1658 to 1690, and the outer ring was completed under Napoleonic rule in 1806-1813. In 2017 the fortifications in Italy, Croatia and Montenegro were inscribed together.
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