Proposals for the Study of Bastion Fortifications in the Church State in the Early Modern Age

The bastioned fortresses of the cities of the Church State can be regarded as authentic metaphors for the establishment of the early modern state. Beginning in the early sixteenth century, the Papal State embarked on a systematic endeavor to impose a distinct spatial and symbolic order across its territory and urban centers. A multidisciplinary analysis, encompassing a wide range of sources including technical treatises, architectural design, urban sociology, and economic microhistory, has been carried out. The investigation began with a series of pilot cases in Ferrara, Castelfranco Emilia, and Ascoli Piceno. This approach enabled the emergence of a dialogue or conflict between papal power and urban classes, who in turn represented their own economic and social dynamics. However, historical perspective albeit from a multidisciplinary perspective, does not exhaust the theme. Indeed, fortresses are currently being reinterpreted as potential patrimonial resources to be reintegrated into city life, in a perspective of adaptive reuse and urban regeneration.

Keywords: Military Architecture, Papal States, “Alla Moderna” Fortifications, Social and Economic History, Contemporary Adaptive Reuse.

Giampiero Brunelli, Proposte per lo studio delle fortificazioni bastionate nello Stato della Chiesa in età moderna in "STORIA URBANA " 178/2024, pp 5-13, DOI: 10.3280/SU2024-178001