fortified places

FORTIFIED
PLACES
Università Iuav di Venezia
Facoltà di Architettura
FORTIFIED
PLACES
Lifelong Learning Programme
Erasmus Intensive Programme 2011/2012
Workshop’s Guidelines
edited by
Marco Ballarin and Alessandro Bonadio
1
13 > 27 aprile 2012
communication
Servizio Comunicazione Università Iuav di Venezia
www.iuav.it
[email protected]
promoted by
Facoltà di Architettura dell’Università Iuav di Venezia
web site design
Giulio Testori
Università Iuav di Venezia
Facoltà di Architettura
This project has been funded with support from the
European Commission
support for the visit to Verona and Peschiera
ProViaggiArchitettura
a special thanks to
Claudia Visser
thanks to
AGESCI Venezia, Associazione VAS, Gianluca Ballarin,
Antonio Quagliati,
Lifelong Learning Programme
Programma di apprendimento permanente
partnership
Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Malaquais
Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura
Universidad de Sevilla
patronage
credits:
the iconography of this publication was adapted from:
Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici e Paesaggistici di
Venezia e Laguna
collaboration
Istituzione Parco della Laguna – Comune di Venezia
Photo on the cover: Comune di Venezia - Archivio della
Comunicazione, Osservatorio Fotografico photographer: Giorgio Bombieri
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archive of arch. Gianluca Ballarin: pag 42, 46, 47;
Caniato G., Turri E., Zanetti M. La laguna di Venezia: pag:16,23, 39
Carpaccio, Il leone di San Marco, Palazzo Ducale, Venezia; pag 3
Colamussi A., Isole della Laguna di Venezia : guida aerofotografica del territorio: pag: 8, 32, 33, 48,49;
Crovato G., Crovato M., Isole abbandonate della Laguna: com’erano e come sono: pag 47;
current archive of “Soprintendenza dei Beni Culturali di Venezia”:
pag 27, 45;
Fortificatorische Detailbeschreibung von Venedig: pag 30, 31;
Gelichi S., Archeologia e monasteri nella laguna veneziana in San
Giacomo in Paludo: pag 44;
Google Earth: pag 21, 37;
Marchesi P., Fortezze veneziane, pag: 16.
Moro P., Il piano di attacco austriaco contro Venezia: pag 28.29;
Zorzi A., Venezia Scomparsa: pag 28, 44;
www.bingmaps.com: pag 22, 38;
www.wikipedia.com: pag 6,
all the drawings are made by Marco Ballarin and Alessandro
Bonadio
scientific direction
Alberto Ferlenga, Università Iuav di Venezia, Maria Salerno, E.N.S.A.
Paris-Malaquais, Antonio Tejedor Cabrera, E.T.S.A. de Sevilla
coordinated and curated by
Mauro Marzo, Università Iuav di Venezia
administrative management
Lucia Basile, Università Iuav di Venezia, Maria Gatto, Università Iuav di Venezia
professors
Federico Arévalo Rodríguez, E.T.S.A. de Sevilla (Architectural Graphic Analysis / Survey and Analysis
of Buildings), Alberto Ferlenga, Università Iuav di Venezia (Architectural and Urban Design), Carlos
García Vázquez, E.T.S.A. de Sevilla (History and Theory of Architecture / Architectural Composition), Jean Leonard, E.N.S.A. Paris-Malaquais (Théorie et pratiques de la conception architecturale
et urbaine),Mercedes Linares Gómez del Pulgar, E.T.S.A. de Sevilla (Architectural Graphic Analysis),
Mauro Marzo, Università Iuav di Venezia (Architectural and Urban Design), Luca Merlini, E.N.S.A.
Paris-Malaquais (Théorie et pratiques de la conception architecturale et urbaine), Emmanuel Pinard,
E.N.S.A. Paris-Malaquais (Arts et Techniques de la Représentation), Maria Salerno, E.N.S.A. ParisMalaquais (Théorie et pratiques de la conception architecturale et urbaine), Antonio Tejedor Cabrera,
E.T.S.A. de Sevilla (Architectural Design)
integrated professors
Chiara Ferro, Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici e Paesaggistici di Venezia e Laguna (Heritage
Conservation), Elisabetta Molteni, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia – Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici
(History of Architecture), Claudia Tessarollo, Università Iuav di Venezia (Technology of Architecture)
guest professors
Aldo Aymonino, Università Iuav di Venezia (Architectural and Urban Design), Massimo Carmassi,
Università Iuav di Venezia (Architectural and Urban Design), Fernanda De Maio, Università Iuav di
Venezia (Architectural and Urban Design),Carlo Magnani, Università Iuav di Venezia (Architectural
and Urban Design)
tutors
Marco Ballarin, Università Iuav di Venezia, Alessandro Bonadio, Università Iuav di Venezia, Giulio
Testori, Università Iuav di Venezia
jury
Lamberto Amistadi, Università degli Studi di Parma, Renato Bocchi (foreman), Università Iuav di
Venezia, Michele De Mattio, Università degli Studi di Udine, Ambra Dina, Istituzione Parco della Laguna – Comune di Venezia, Eleonora Mantese, Università Iuav di Venezia, Alessandra Marin, Università
degli Studi di Trieste, Giuseppe Rallo, Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici e Paesaggistici per le
province di Venezia Belluno Padova e Treviso
students
José Miguel Acosta Bejarano, Grégoire Arthuis, Arthur Jérome Bertrand Bel, María Carretero Fernández,
Mariam Chaouki, Emmanuel Constant, Karol Czarzasty, Lorenzo Fattorel, Pilar Fernández Rueda,
Paloma García De Soria Lucena, Juliana Gemma, Doriane Hugues, Maddalena Iovene, Camille Landre,
Marion Le Coq, Louise Le Penndu, Giovanni Lenci, Ho Ching Leung, Moreno Lotto, Margherita Manzon,
Claudia Michelazzo, Francisco Javier Navarro De Pablos, Juan Navarro Velázquez, Claudia Puglierin,
Agathe Saint-Genis, Piergiovanni Scardellato, Robin Stordeur, Montserrat Tous Romero, Jonida Turani
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Introduction
Mauro Marzo
The “Fortified Places” workshop aims to increase educational exchanges among the
(Faculty of Architecture) Facoltà di Architettura dell’Università IUAV of Venice, the
Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Malaquais, and the Escuela Técnica
Superior de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Sevilla. These universities have already
worked in co-educational actions/projects/works with positive results; the Lifelong
Learning Programme gives us the opportunity to deepen this collaboration in order to:
- increase the number of students and teachers involved in these exchange initiatives;
- to compare architectural and landscaping design methods among the Universities
involved ;
- to develop trans-disciplinary students skills required by professions activities today;
The last point is the one that most importantly builds up how the proposal in these
pages would like to respond to academic priorities the Erasmus Intensive Programme
has given. Nowadays, the trans-disciplinary approach is one of the most appropriate
teaching methods capable of training students in architectural design. The “Fortified
Places” workshop involved architectural and landscaping design, historical disciplines,
photography, architectural restoration not as a summation of knowledge, but as a
critical trans-disciplinary learning area.
The main purpose of the Intensive Programme is to make students fully aware of the
opportunity of acquiring a method that approaches the topics and the project sites
with the help of communication and comparison of the disciplines. On one hand,
the need is to separate disciplinary knowledge, in order to train specialists; on other
hand, the need is to train designers able to manage different knowledge in complex
architectural projects, is strongly increasing
To this effect, the workshop aims to develop projects in continuous comparison with
various knowledge and with the support of the teachers of different disciplines.
Goals
The IP “Fortified Places’” goal is to underline the historical role of fortifications under
the construction of urban and natural landscapes; the investigation/research concerns single fortified elements, also part of a wider system, and the potentialities that
these elements can obtain today.
This first edition of the IP - we hope that there will be two others in Spain and in France - investigate on some fortified places scattered in Venice’s lagoon, which allows the
analysis of their possible role within a programme that preserves and enhances the
lagoon’s landscape.
The progressive decommission of military functions, raises cultural, social and economic questions about the recovery of these buildings and sites; these places could
become models that enhance the lagoon, by supporting sustainable tourism and
cultural uses/traditions in agreement with the lagoon’s environmental history.
The suggested topic is to create an analytical and planning study on a place (in this
case the Venetian Lagoon) and on a specific system (cultural or touristic reuse of the
decommission military installations).
The main question is to obtain a method and an approach capable of solving planning problems; a valid method applicable to other European backgrounds connoted
by the presence of historical/environmental qualities to preserve and enhance.
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Main activities
The programme is possible thanks to the collaboration of the professors of the
Università IUAV, ENSAPM and ETSAS, and to the goals the students of these three
universities have in common.
The IP is organized to increase students’ knowledge with ex cathedra classes and
with a workshop approach that develops design projects.
The main activities will be:
- Multidisciplinary lessons and preliminary research are geared to strengthen the
necessary notions and to deal with the project sites and IP issues. The main topics
the classes with talk about: fortified systems in the Italian, French and Spanish
landscapes; historical figures and element of the lagoon’s landscape; projects
that cope with the cultural facilities of those sites characterized by historical
backgrounds and by the delicacy of its environment; pictures of the lagoon; strategies of preservation and enhancement adopted in Italy, France and Spain;
- Inspections in the project areas and in Veneto’s other fortified places;
- Workshops involving representatives of the Territorial Government Offices and the
Preservation/ Enhancement Offices of the Venice Lagoon;
- Workshop activities for mixed groups (Italian, French and Spanish), geared to the
development of projects; these activities will be an opportunity for active learning,
they are aimed to develop the synthetic skill of students, projects ideas that might
interpret thects of the sites and use all the notions learnt in class, in an interdisciplinary and critical way.
Expected outputs
From classes participation and mixed design groups, the expected learning students results are:
- Testing the range of needed tools to project in close relationship with the environmental fragility and historical military artifacts;
- Control of the different scales of project, from design and photography to understand the morphology of the sites and to select the relevant features of the project
area, to the architectural configuration of the structure;
- Reflection on the relationship between architecture and specific context.
With regard to teachers, the expected results are:
- Comparing methods and approaches in historical and environmental project
areas;
- Testing the educational to merge different and specific knowledge;
-Testing the workshop approach to improve exchanges and possible project hybridization among design traditions of the three schools involved.
Design issues
The lagoon of Venice are scattered by evidence of a massive defense system dating
back to different periods. At this time when military functions are dismissed in
many places of Europe it is necessary to develop projects aimed to preserve and
enhance these systems. This phenomenon can be understood as an extraordinary
opportunity to return these sites to public community; however, the scale of these
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systems represents a serious risk of fast and gradual decay for the lack of planned
interventions and recovery of physical/cultural values.
Specific recovery actions are not enough to bring visitors flowing in dismissed military sites, with the restoration of individual items is necessary to develop a cultural
project that can contextualize the historical reasons for these artifacts which were
not just isolated fortresses but parts of a defensive system of the lagoon.
On the other hand, these sites could be understood as an example of cultural
landscape values that Venice and its lagoon are representatives today.
The recovery of military artifacts in the lagoon as in other places of Italy or other
Nations are increasingly numerous but (although these initiatives are laudable)
they are often the result of a limited action and closed in themselves; it is necessary to develop a cultural project that crosses history and geography, past and present in order to preserve the monumental remains and build up future scenarios.
From this point of view, the Venetian fortresses may be understood as a constellation of places to set up, as a whole is a remarkable system that has to related to
the knowledge of the lagoon landscape and new strategies for sustainable tourism.
The knowledge acquired during the IP investigation phase and scenarios designed
by students, with help from teachers, is a set of materials that could be presented
to public opinion, representatives of local institutions and officials of architectural
and landscaping safeguard institutions.
the system of fortresses framed on a geographic scale can test new models to
enhance the dismissed military structures within the lagoon context. From war or
defense places, they may become places for history education, for understanding
the nature and the perception of the landscape; they still could become opportunities for local economic revitalization. Although this is a teaching experience, it
could provide a new perspective on the role of military abandoned artifacts, not
only for the immense liquid plain that is the Venice lagoon, but also for those
European areas characterized by a strong presents of abandoned military structures
or dismissing perspective.
Methodology
The workshop will be structured into lectures, surveys, comparisons between groups
of students and design exercises.
The lessons will be specifically addressed to issues that involves various disciplines,
After the lectures there will be seminaries discussion to improve the students ability to interpolate knowledge and select critically the acquired information.
The teaching staff will establish a dual dialogue with students. On the one hand,
this staff will be engaged in lessons on the topic of IP issues, on the other hand it
will lead - as in a kind of architecture atelier- mixed students groups (Italian, French
and Spanish) to understand the lagoon characters, to define guidelines of projects
and in the end to elaborate the final proposal. this second dialogue between
teacher and student is aimed to transmit knowledge not from classical ex-cathedra
lessons, but through an induction method. The teaching approach also provides
to learn on vertical axis (teacher-student) and on horizontal axis (Italian studentFrench student -Spanish student).
The final evaluation provided by the IP will not be relegated to the end of the workshop, but will pass through successive collegial steps and critical discussion about
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the issues learned in the classroom, the comments made after

the surveys and the
problems emerged during the project elaboration. The lectures will be supplemented by discussions between teachers and students in order not to allow a passive
learning but improving the critical skills of the student.
Finally, a fundamental part of the IP is the workshop time, it is understood as a
full-time immersion to develop a real and sustainable design proposal.
The project will be the final highlights of the educational activity; this will allow to
check which way the proposed training program will lead to the goal achievements.
Monitoring and project evaluation
In order to verify if the IP objectives are achieved, it is necessary to develop tools
for monitoring and evaluation.
The monitoring takes place in intermediate stages of the training period and It
uses, as a assessment tool, group discussion, critical reflection on the lessons, the
considerations made during the seminaries where the various project groups share
partial results with other students and tutors.
The sharing of design strategies not only ensures a programmed control of the
knowledge progression and skills critical / design students, but also allows to make
more fluid the comparison of different design approaches between IP involved
schools, it is hoped in this way the hybridization between teaching methods.
The evaluation results of the workshop will be made through a critical discussion of
the final project and through a specific exhibition of these. Teachers invited to sit
on the jury (professors, but also representatives of public institutions and officials
of architectural and landscaping safeguard institutions) will be asked to disclose,
in addition to the merits or deficiencies of projects, common strategies reported,
as well as any aspects of methodological originality that are derived from the
initiative.
Finally, the planned publication of the workshop, which will collect the lessons and
the final results, will also contain a critical afterword expected of a outside teacher
as impartial evaluator.
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The “Barena”: shoal or sandbank
emerging from the water of the lagoon
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Fortified lagoon
History of ideas of fortification in the Lagoon of Venice
Marco Ballarin
“ne quid urbi natura omnium munitissimae deesset”
Venice, the city on water famous throughout the world, is actually the most important town of a complex system of relations between nature and artifice. This centre
represents and describes only part of this system. His representations, crossing all
our communications systems, away a chance to earn this system as a necessary condition for its existence in time. We can synthesize the complexity of this system that
defines the origin and future of this city with the term Venetian Lagoon. This Lagoon
is the line that holds together all the different images of the cultures and societies
that have lived in Venice since the sixth century. Of this time is the first image,
narrated by Roman official, Cassiodorus, describing the inhabitants of this place as
a simple “water birds, sometimes over the sea and sometimes on the ground”. This
image might find it in a relief of the Lion of Venice of the sixteenth century, symbol
of the Republic, as a clerk in the freight transport of tomorrow. The same continuity
we could meet also looking at the following image that gives us this first unexpected
visitor: the first Venetians lived all alike and all ate the same food offered by the
Lagoon. Managing social relations through the water has brought the Venetians
(which should better define as lagoon’s inhabitants) to perceive a need the empty
space, a distance between things: the principle and practice of freedom in the service of cooperation required by the insular condition. Through the water acquired
all the assets that the Lagoon could not provide trading with others who gave in
abundance: so came the fresh water and, later, the timber needed for construction
of buildings characterized by a monumental stone from, in turn, from Istria. Many
9
The Venice Lagoon
The natural fortification
10
humanists, writers and politicians across Europe will write and advise the Republic
as an example of freedom. The bodies of government and the highest offices of the
Venetian Republic did not stop to remember and be guided by these principles already represented in that first image of the Lagoon. These images will always return
the same in the history of the lagoon and also in the history of the Fortifications of
the Lagoon. After this trip of this particular tourist the best form of defence that met
some scared Roman during barbarian invasions it was to take refuge in Lagoon. Its
walls were impenetrable to inexperienced people: because of its principal and not
usual size, large surface extension and depth ambiguous. One could argue that these
defences so secure, in defending from attack, gave back, before any compromise,
new freedom. This new freedom is found in urban development that begins in the
lagoon, where there are several centres consist of small groups of islands such as
Torcello, Chioggia and Metamauco. Here, many noble families looted from Roman
cities located near the edge of the lagoon, settle and begin to develop their business
without completely detaching themselves from the hinterland. In this process, the
town lagoon system grows up, and then responds to new attacks increasingly moving away from old villages along the border. The safety also in this case depended
on water: the people choose the place, in part already inhabited, farther from shore
and safer than the change of tide from which it derives its name of “Rivoalto” (today
Rialto). From here born Venice, the town made of
many islands in itself independent,
but connected through the water. That Venice which will become the Republic and
will begin to extend its dominion along the Adriatic until arriving in the Middle East.
In reality, politics and the fighting techniques of Venice enlighten us about the true
interest of this state. Venice was interested in the ports, which aimed to trade with
favourable terms. It was not interested in the land, but in those places where the
products of that land were traded. Venice did not want to rule other peoples, but to
ensure a profit to those people with whom it traded, and which guaranteed safety by
controlling the sea. That water represents the freedom of Venice to control a territory
beyond the territory itself. It is no coincidence that in Venice and in other ports where traded, there were already “ghettos”, island between the islands, inside of which
the stranger could practice their own laws, the Turkish in Venice as the Venetian in
Constantinople. It was interested in those territories that shared it their condition,
those territories that were linked to it through its own reason of existence: water. Venice conceives itself, even outside of its domain, thinks his empire equal to itself, as
a set of points connected by water. One can therefore say that the Republic had not
developed a defence system; on the contrary, its development was measured with
respect to the extension of the domains. Its main feature that made him unique was
that of moving on the water. It is difficult to explain briefly how this military system
worked, supported by the whole society, to protect businesses that took place mostly
in private. In reality it was conceptually very simple: to a greater wealth of merchants
and a greater number of exchanges in the port of Venice corresponded to a greater
wealth of the State and of its community. So the Fortifications of the Lagoon is considered the fleets of the Republic. These were built in the “Arsenale”, the shipyard
was an organization where the work already advanced for the time allowed to obtain
the finished product in all its parts in one place. Precisely because of its importance,
the Arsenal will be one of the first places to be fortified, to be distinguished by the
presence of some architectural element of defence (im-mobile). Venice noticed to be
not architectonically fortified when he had to fight a war in its waters. Between 1379
and 1381 they fought the war of Chioggia against Genoa who had seized several
ports in the hands of Venice along the Adriatic up to conquer this city located in the
far south of the lagoon. After a long siege, the territories were recaptured, however
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thanks to the fleet. In addition to fighting on the
“ battlefield” the fleet’s historic enemy, prevented
the arrival of supplies to the city that became a
death trap for the attackers. Despite the victory
had been achieved with this defensive mobile system is found necessary to build defensive structures in the inlets. These are the three gates of
the lagoon on the Adriatic: the gate of Lido, to
the north, the gate of Malamocco, in the centre,
and the gate of Chioggia to the south. These early
devices probably consist of modifications and additions to existing structures non-functional from
the standpoint of defensive. In Chioggia they built the castle of “Lova” in 1384, which will be called in response to other changes and additions,
Forte San Felice.
The opposite inlet, the once of Lido, there must
have already been a fortification of the XII, called
“Castelvecchio”, which was likely to monitor and
regulate the passage of ships as well as give some
supplies from them. Almost certainly in the two
inlets were structures that functioned as a lighthouse and it is plausible the presence of other
structures of architectural services to the loading
that occurred in these areas for greater depth of
their bottoms. The ships could not be loaded completely into the lagoon and these operations were
carried out in the shores, where it is said they gathered all the troops coming from Europe ‘ready
to sail for the Fourth Crusade. At the beginning of
the fifteenth century, “Castelvecchio” point located on the Lido near the monastery of St. Nicholas
was involved in some work of restoration and transformation. In this same period the government
also discusses the possibility of constructing an
architectural work in front of this castle that will
be called “Castelnuovo”. In the second half of the
fifteenth century military architecture in the most
important progress in the lagoon area is that new
crenellated walls of ‘”Arsenal Novissimo”. At the
beginning of the next century the outbreak of a
fire due to the presence of deposits of gunpowder
in this plant suggest moving this material in the
outer islands. The island of San Secondo and San
Giorgio in Alga become powder kegs after appropriate amendments aimed at safeguarding the
precious material: this zoning is often practiced
by Venice as a defensive and preventive the spread of fire due to the extreme proximity buildings
in the downtown (origin of the myth of Murano
glass). Example of this concept and military plan12
Vittore Carpaccio,
The lion of St Mark,
1516
ning is also the case of “Lazzaretti”, admissions of people, goods and ships coming
from the east with the function of preserving the city from the possible spread of
epidemics. Not difficult to imagine why these same islands had reported the presence of other stores of gunpowder. This approach responds to a general reorganization
of its defensive structures that will be addressed again in the creation of the League
of Cambrai (1509) that gathered around the Pope Julius II all the states bordering
the Republic interested in its territories. After the peace and the establishment of
new borders Venice begins to define a new defence system that covers all the cities
under his rule, in Veneto as along the Adriatic. The sixteenth century will be the
most productive period in terms of architectural theories about the fortifications.
In Venice the most experienced personalities in the topic will produce one of the
most interesting debates between different researches across Europe. The view of
the fortifications in this sense begins to get complicated because Venice must find
solutions for inland city, the lagoon and also for the large number of ports along the
sea increasingly subject to influences of new states emerging in the Adriatic. While
Venice is attacked politically “state land”, on the other hand is forced by the Ottoman empire and the empires that are developing in response to geopolitical shift induced by the discovery of America to undergo a shift in second order in the shipping
trade. Then change the political geography, but also the weapons and navigation
techniques. The realization of such a state of crisis and the complexity induced by
this new landscape culminates in the creation of a judiciary : the “Provveditorato alle
Fortezze” (the superintendence to Fortresses). The various arguments and debates
addressed in this office show us how much that ‘idea of Laguna

was still present in
the consciousness and able to influence the process and architectural design. The
two demonstration projects from this point of view are that for the Fort St. Andrew
and the fortifications of Chioggia. The Fort St. Andrew’s is the more representative
military architecture of this period, designed by Michele Sanmicheli that in 1535
had been contracted by the Republic to prepare a report on the state of the fortifications in the lagoon. The fortress was built on the ruins of “Castelnuovo” in front
of St. Nicholas. The construction of this work combines several issues: the need to
defend the main entrance redefining the system of the “two castles” (“Castelnuovo”
e ”Calstelvecchio”). In this feature we can then associate the architectural quality
and the functional definition of monumental gateway to Venice and the place of
his performances (especially the celebration of the marriage of the sea). Straining a
chain between the two forts also could prevent access to enemy ships, while through
13
The Venice Lagoon
system of fortification
14
a walkway on stilts could reach another defensive station on the further north to
control the channel that passes between the island and the once of St. Erasmus. This
system shows how to build a fort in the lagoon means defining a limit breaking the
law which was its previous guarantee of safety: the boundary between the channel
and shallow water was viable and flexible indeterminate. At the same time Sanmicheli will remember how this relationship with the lagoon should be maintained
preserving the inner edge not defined, more natural and less man-made.
The back bastion will be built in 1645 without following the original design. To explain the reasons of this design decision should remember the work that will affect
the tip of the Lido, around the “Castelvecchio” and the monastery of St. Nicholas
(1543). The drawings for this project will show a great work of bastioned on the east,
west and south sides. On this side was to be realized the element most imposing
associated with a channel able to ensure utmost safety in the case of a possible attack through the port of Malamocco. Again, however, on the home front, where
there is the castle, the bastion is not being built. Following the suggestions of Francesco Maria della Rovere, Captain General of the Venetian Republic, on this side had
to prepare only the foundations of the fortress to be erected only in case of war. He
wrote that the enemy might take possession of Venice without ever having to face
these kinds of barriers that, if they had been conquered, could then serve as a defensive place for an attack to the interior. At the same time the formal and material
weakness is seen as a convenience for freedom in a time of peace, political characteristic of Venice already mentioned. The partial anthropization as a principle of freedom represented by the Lagoon underlined by the Captain General in accordance
with the choices made by Sanmicheli are remembered after his death by a man who
drove the captain during his visits: Christopher Sabbadino. This man of the judiciary
to the water, a hydraulic engineer, recalled to his old rival, Alvise Cornaro, his teachings in regard to the debate on the fortifications of Chioggia. Cornaro was a nobleman of Padua who had already distinguished for some important reclamation
work in the countryside of his hometown, but also for an unsuccessful attempt to
enter the most important rooms in Venetian politics. These advised to Chioggia the
construction of large walls around the perimeter of the city, which would be likened
to a mainland city. Parallel to this proposal was discussed the possibility of closing
the inlet of Malamocco and to divert the estuary of some rivers out of the lagoon.
The comparative analysis of these intentions of the will of the Cornaro speaks of
bringing the land to Laguna, where it had managed to build his wealth. In all these
proposals Sabbadino responds that, conscious of the experience and history of Venice, considers it necessary to divert the rivers, activities practiced since ancient times,
to avoid the continual deposition of debris in the lagoon. In the inlet of the port of
Chioggia instead follow the consolidation work performed on the Fort San Felice,
leaving the relationship between the city and the water intact. Just to ensure continuity in this relationship Sabbadino present the idea of digging canals around Venice by increasing the efficiency of inland navigation. The land obtained will be used
to clean up some parts of the city so redefining the edges. This dual system of
channels and “fondamente” (roads parallel to the channels) would produce a new
continuous edge along the main centre securing from debris and facilitating the
operations of naval defence. In response to this project by various defensive and
conservative points of view, the Cornaro propose that the perimeter channel is associated with a large embankment constructed with earth excavation on which to
place a large rampart and trees. Meanwhile it also ensures the doors river on the
south of Chioggia, which constituted the trade route of Lombardy. North of the river
Brenta built the fort of Brondolo to the sea, and the fort of San Michele to the lago15
on. Near the river Adige the “Bastion grando” This represents a growing concern that
Venice had for the possibility of a closure of trade routes or use of these to penetrate
into the lagoon. In the same year, presumably designed by Jacopo Sansovino, produce the octagonal islets through which guard the canal from the inlet of Chioggia and
Malamocco could lead in “San Mark’s Basin”. The model of these odd features, which
defined along the shores of a narrow places easily defended, had been made on the
model of Poveglia Octagon, built during the war of Chioggia on the tip of Poveglia
island, once an important and bustling downtown lagoon. Towards the end of the
century, within the ramparts that are taking place in San Nicolo on the Lido will be
built on a great headquarters (“quartier grando”), a large courtyard building that will
be enlarged and used until the last World War under the name that still now identifies: the barrack “Guglielmo Pepe”. For a new war event of fundamental importance
for the fate of the Republic of Venice, the War of Candia (Crete island) fought between 1645 and 1669, Venice will react with a new intensification of the fortifications
of the port infrastructured less. It is important to consider how the construction of
fortifications was always related to changes in morphology of the islands and shores.
The inlets were probably much larger, undefined. The achievements of fortifications
were discussed along with ideas on the morphological definition of the beaches that
changed over time following the most appropriate choices from the ecological point
of view, according to the continuing desire to preserve the condition of the lagoon.
Only thus can we understand the Octagon Poveglia location and its distance from
the fort Alberoni, on the tip of Malamocco, whose remains are now part of a golf
club, and the fort of “San Pietro in Volta”, located on the opposite tip, at the ends of
the shore of Pellestrina. At the same time the Senate will decide on the implementation of some gunpowder on an island near other already allocated for this use (“San
Secondo” and “San Giorgio in Alga”). The island of “St. Angelo della polvere” had
been occupied since the tenth century by various religious orders, and will become
part of the line of defence that at the end of the republic will be built on the east
Alvise Corner project
for the fortification of
Venice
16
side of the lagoon, to the mainland. This line will be defined through the implementation of so-called lagooned battery placed between them at a constant distance in
a position to define an arc of a circle, which goes from the inlet of Malamocco to that
of Sant’Erasmo. The batteries, initially built on stilts, were intended to guard channels connected to the mainland, thereby proving the renewed attention of Venice to
a possible attack from the ground. The construction of defensive lines for points also
distinguished the creation of several workstations at “Ca’ Lino”, between the mouths
of the Brenta and the Adige. This system will spread a lot during the fall of the Republic and the sale of the Veneto to the Austrian Empire as enshrined in the Treaty
of Campoformio in 1797. During the first Austrian domination they begin to design
and build a series of small stations that define a specific font line. The achievements
were concentrated initially in Sottomarina, the peninsula that encloses in the lagoon
the city of Chioggia, and around the rivers that flowed just in the south of it. Another
important point of intensification was the inlet of the Lido in its branch to the north,
less infrastructured until then because it did not lead directly to San Marco. This inlet
was called the mouth of St. Erasmus before that the construction of the breakwater
at Punta Sabbioni enclose the homonymous island in the lagoon. St. Erasmus was a
beach and so they began to build several defensive positions to defend the entrance.
Grows exponentially in this period the number of fortified places that seem to follow
a precise hierarchy. This order seems to follow the Venetian practice, to defend the
doors, but also must consider the possibility that the Austrians, by changing their
boundaries, they had a new perception of the enemy. The Austrians found themselves to govern an unfamiliar and particular territory, the Lagoon, characterized by a
widespread urban condition where it is difficult to perceive and represent the power
of the new institutions. Probably the Austrians had to use the defensive work of architecture as a monument to his inauguration, repeating everywhere similar patterns
and therefore recognizable. The defensive work in this sense becomes political action, authoritarian and coercive in some way. During the French domination (1805Cristoforo Sabbadino
project for the extension of the fondamenta’s margin of Venice,
1557
17
The Venice Lagoon
Classification of Venice
“Piazzaforte” based on type
and year of construction
18
1815) the mode of action will not change in substance, but only in ways: in fact the
problem is the inability by the occupant to understand the Lagoon as a means, a
required distance, and as the place of representation. Continue to develop those
points, some previously identified by the Austrians, are considered essential to a
general inspection of the lagoon rather than for his defence. The foreign domination
could build his fortress with an idea opposite to that which had always supported
Venice: to built a myriad of fixed figure, motionless, in that background established
from the lagoon, landscape of freedom and flexibility of movement. The way in
which the French attempted to do so was, from a certain point of view, more interesting and blunt. In fact, they destroyed the great monasteries and churches that in
the Venetian’s imaginary and in the social structure of the city were the representation of a larger community. A community that not only could recognize itself in a
saint, but in all those things to which the saint could delay: a group of noble families
(usually the first patrons of holy places), the goods that they traded and the craftsmen who worked to obtain the finished product. After his return the Austrian Empire
will continue the militarization of the territory in the same way and more intensely
as he had begun until 1866, when the Venetian lands are annexed to the Kingdom
of Italy. The artillery and techniques continue to change: when it is loses the
knowledge of the Lagoon each piece of land becomes a possible point of attack. The
lagoon is a continuous edge, a ring around Venice, will be built ideally continuous
barriers through battery placed at constant distances. The objective is to densify the
fortifications along the existing lines of defence: the mouth of the port of Chioggia,
the Lido and the line of lagoon’s batteries. In Chioggia interventions are oriented
mainly on the Fort, where they added more modern facilities. In the area around St
Nicholas various artefacts are made, they densify the stations on the island of St.
Erasmus, and there are others in different islands around the nucleus of Torcello and
Burano to link this system with that of lagoon’s batteries. On the north side of the
same harbour mouth, to close the triangulation, we realized the strength of Treporti,
once overlooking the harbor mouth, before construction of the breakwater at Punta
Sabbioni. One of the entrenched areas of greatest value will become the area around
the Forte Marghera, between the lagoon and the land at the closest point with Venice. Around this line is drawn further land was only partially implemented designed
to protect Venice, considered the greatest lengths range of new weapons. Around
the fort of Marghera is drawn another line of defence, after only partially achieved
intended to defend Venice considered the greatest lengths range of new weapons.
The Italian fortifications of the early twentieth century will focus precisely in this
area as increased safety margin. The fort of Marghera was thought by the Austrians
before the French occupation who built it, and this was intended to supervise the
new railway bridge that connected permanently to the Venice hinterland. The bridge
(the Brifge of Freedom), built in 1842, was thought by some wooden arches, ready
to be blown up in case of danger, and was defended by two stations located in the
middle and the end of its path. The construction of this bridge establishes the time
when any idea of defensive system loses its meaning and perhaps not only for Venice. Venice is the first in which it becomes manifest. The bridge is the formalization as
a material construction because of the impossibility of attacking Venice now fully
accessible by land and by sea. Although after the First World War, Venice as a trading centre and its military arsenal as a manufacturing centre, had virtually no value
in the new Italian state will probably be just the lagoon and the history that has
produced over the centuries to ensure the survival of Venice facing the world wars.
19
20
MAZZORBETTO FORT
21
Location, morphological description,
architectural features, history and potential
Alessandro Bonadio
Location
The Mazzorbo’s island is located in the north of Murano, crossed the islands San Giacomo in Paludo and Madonna del Monte. The island is located westward to Burano
and northward of Torcello North, the two touristic islands of the Venice lagoon.
At the time of the ancient Romans Majurbium (Magna Urbs, major city) was one of
the famous villas of Altino and the “Altinati” take refuge there during the invasion of
the Lombards during the 640 AD.
In the eighties, the architect Giancarlo De Carlo, designs and builds in Mazzorbo
island a residential complex oriented to rebuild and repopulate the island, through
a modern language, however, the traditional spaces characteristic of the settlement
lagoon.
A navigable channel divided Mazzorbo into two islands, the most important is called
proper Mazzorbo, the second largest island is called “Mazzorbetto” although it is
much larger than the first; the latter, in fact, has been in the past affected by environmental changes which have invested much of the northern lagoon, so that part
was submerged.
The Mazzorbetto Fort is located in a “island in the island”, in the Southeast tip of the
Mazzorbetto Island (the minor of the two islands) to south of the Isola dei Laghi,
and is reachable only by boats of their own.
the island shape is
formed by channels
dug in the XVIII cent.
by the French army
Bird’s view from east of the Mazzorbo Fort
22
Island of Torcello
Island of Mazzorbo
Island of Burano
View of the north lagoon
23
0 5 10
24
20
40 m
Description of morphological and architectural
features
GLOX
GLOX
GLOX
The island is home to the fort has 16.000 square
meters of surface, the first island’s evidence dates
back to 900 AD, when a noble Paduan founded
the convent of St. Eufemia, which later moved to
some nuns from the Benedictine monastery of
Sant Amgelo di Ammiana. By decree of the Senato della Repubblica ( the Serenissima’s governament) in the September 12 1768, the monastery
was suppressed and the island is used for military
purposes; in 1805 the building was demolished
to allow for the following year, the construction of
the Austrian ridotto defense with cruciform plan;
the beginning of the 900 was also reduced demolished and in its place was built the Mazzorbetto
Fort, used until the Second World War and then
abandoned. In 1981, the scouts of A.G.E.S.C.I in
the area of Venezia took, in granting the Municipal, the island to host their own summer camps.
In addition to hosting the scouts, the island is a
center for university students for short periods; to
hosts these groups it has undergone several changes: the back of the island was placed a slide that
allows people to use the kayaks and canoes with
ease; to instead of a washer, now there is a place
for the celebration of Masses.
The island is accessed via a channel to the south
west, carved by the Austrians, 7 m wide, and the
Mazzorbetto Fort, 80 meters long, 10 meters wide
and a height of 5.5 m, consists in its present: from
a battery in line with six artillery positions placed
above the cassamatta partially buried on the west
side, and a landing place to the south; it consists
GLOX
Plan of Mazzorbetto fort
25
The main front of the fort
26
of a thirteen rooms, six of which housed the ammunition, while seven were rooms for the military,
all vaulted and barrel aligned along a corridor of
service for the storage of ammunition brought to
the “pieces” using mechanical lifting equipment.
The “pieces” or cannons were the 149 G (149 mm
caliber and had the G stands for the cast materials with which he was made the gun) installed
without the metal roof as it was rather strong in
Tron, and Gazzera Carpenedo in tricerato Mestre.
The main facade of the fort is regular and symmetrical, composed of 11 segmental arches in the
first order and second order, which has a gallery
with 6 slots, is accessed via two staircases at the
ends of the front.
The fort is surrounded by high embankments up
to six meters, and those embankments are interrupted to insert two access gates on the south
side of the island. The work on uneven ground
had three circular rondellas placed in the south,
in the north, and in north-west,with a large diameter, detached from the wall to the canal and
the lagoon, and were tasked to repair the military
by the effect of gunfire noise, today we could see
only the circular tracks around the perimeter of
the embankments.
A dense vegetation covers almost all manufactured goods leaving only a few passable stretches,
and you can access the highest part of the ramparts by a ladder placed on the right of the fort.
The traces of the foundation walls of the small
Franco-Austrian military demolished are visible
within the square at the centre of the island.
GLOX
GLOX
History
These voids were used to
transport munitions from the
storages to workstations
The covers were added with
the restoration of the fort
in 1980
The artillery positions
The island, where now the fort rises, had, in its
original function, the task of hosting a convent.
At the eastern entrance of the channel Mazzorbo,
to the right to Torcello stood the ancient Monastery of S Eufemia, whose testimony is clear and
the eighteenth century engraving of Tironi and
Sandi, in the drawing you can see the church of
Sant ‘Euphemia and its bell tower.
The news that we have come to us from Bernardino Scardeonio that, in his history of ancient Padua, tells us of a noble woman of Padua, Margherita, who retired in the year 900 AD with three
nobles girls in Mazzorbetto island and founded
the monastery. In 1439 it was annexed by the
The west side of the fort
is partially buried by an
embankment
27
bishop of Torcello, the monastery of San Angelo
in theAmmiana island, already inhabited by the
nuns of the Order of St. Benedict that were reduced to number three due to progressive deterioration and abandonment of the island.
With the decree of 12 September 1768, the monastery and the church were closed and buildings
were adapted for military use, in 1805 the complex was demolished to allow for the following
year, reduced by the construction of the French, it
was realized in 1806 on the ruins of the ancient
monastery of St. Euphemia destroyed by Napoleon’s troops.
The description given by the Austrians for the
“Plan of the austrian attack against the Venice”
described, in the 1900, the italian defence as a:
“Opera in the land irregular six-sided with three
View of the Sant’ Eufemia monastery
engraving by Tironi and Sandi XVIII cent.
Plan of Fort Mazzorbetto
The “rondella” was used as a
location for defense in case
of attack
The blockhaus of the“ridotto”
had a cruciform plan, was
built in brick and wood
28
Under the embankments
were bunkers protect
the fort
Section of the embankment
Section of the fortress
GLOX
rondellas. The east facade, facing the canal Dese,
was preparing for the defense with guns, the remaining fronts for the defense of infantry. Height
5.53 2.53 to 3.79 m thickness of the parapet. To
the west a ditch with water, 8 m in width, and
depth 1.74 m to the north east and south moat is
replaced by the lagoon. Inside a walled cruciform
blockhouse-proof shell and a cistern. The work
serves to block the channels of Dese, Burano and
San Giacomo “.
The ridotto defence was not originally an artillery
position, but an ammunition storage with a bastion perimeter and a central cruciform cassamatta, it became artillery position when the Italian
military command, after the establishment of six
consecutive projects, decided to destroy the central blockhouse and built in its place a traversone
in concrete with six stations from 149G.
The location of the fort is more backward than the
previous one, and strangely the building is not located on the old foundations of the small FrenchAustrian, however, remains unchanged system of
embankments and revolvers.
The fort, with its new setting, becomes part of the
system of fortifications that served to protect the
area of North-East to the fish farms and the eaves
of the mainland, with the artillery covering the
Sile and the Piave in their lead in the Adriatic.
This system has had enormous importance in
1914-18, the first word war, when, after the rout
of Caporetto, the Italian-Austrian front line stopped at the Piave a few kilometers from Venice.
The “pieces” of artillery was very effective, could
fire up to S. Dona di Piave and the port of Cor-
29
tellazzo and currently remain visible only places
where they lived the guns.
After the First World War the fort’s island became,
until the early 40’s a fascist summer camp for Piccole Italiane and Balilla.
During World War II anti-aircraft batteries were
probably installed in the slots of the artillery and,
later, in the early postwar years, the fort, were
housed displaced families, after that the island
was completely abandoned.
The state of abandonment of the Mazzorbetto’s
fort lasted until the early ‘80s, when he made a
program for recovering stable, thanks to an appropriation of public money by the City Council
wanted to recover the island (2001).
In 1999 were completed by the Venice Water Authority - Consorzio Venezia Nuova, some urgent
reinforcement of the banks and re-calibration and
quickening of the channel environment.
The floor was raised off
the ground to conserve
the ammonition from the
moisture
Plan of the Mazzorbo french fortress
30
The fortress was 7,90 meters
high and 30 meters long
each wings
31
The island of Mazzorbo and the fort
Potential
32
The island in recent years has shown his new vocation, the warmth and hospitality of groups such
as scout groups, educational purposes related to
nature activities, topographical observation and
knowledge of the beautiful landscape of the lagoon.
Thanks to its privileged location within the lagoon system, and particularly in light of the height
of its embankments, it is possible to make the
island a vantage point for the fauna and flora
typical of this delicate and unique ecosystem.
The island of Mazzorbetto can then become a
new, strategic centre for the reception, through
new accommodations refreshment and rest, and
may become part of an innovative system of widespread hospitality that might come to involve
more islands to ‘inside the lagoon.
The new architectural artifacts that the island will
be found to accommodate it to perform new functions will be temporary, removable and repositionable depending on the particular needs of each
occasion, they could become a new landmark,
visible as a sort of “lighthouse “, or keep a metaphorical dimension within the lush vegetation,
and become an integral part of the lagoon landscape.
33
Axonometry of Mazzorbetto fort
The plan of each
artillery position was
circular to allow each
gun to turn on itself
The embankment are 6
meters high. Its
perimeter around the
fort protected him from
the attacks
The old fort with
cruciform plan
demolished by the italians to build a new one
34
From the embankment
of east side you can
watch the Torcello’s
island
The ammunition were
brought upstairs by
mechanical lifting
equipment
0
5
10
20
40 m
35
36
SAN GIACOMO
IN PALUDO
37
Location, morphological description,
architectural features, history and potential
Alessandro Bonadio
Location
The island of San Giacomo in Paludo is at the centre of the lagoon north of Venice along the Canal
Scomenzera San Giacomo, the major artery that
connects the historic centre of Venice and Murano and Burano, Torcello and Mazzorbo.
Currently the island has no harbor fotr the
vaporetto ACTV and to get there is the possibility
that the requirement to obtain your own boat.
The island is located near the historic city and is
part of an existing urban circuit.
The Canal of San Giacomo, which overlooks the
island, is one of the main lines of communication linking the lagoon, both from an economic
standpoint and tourism, the historic centre with
Murano, Mazzorbo, Burano and Torcello, and provides the ability to insert in the island’s public
transport system with the construction of a dock
for the ferries and design of moorings for visitors
or guests.
GLOX
Access to the island
is via the dock, there
is no port for public
transport
Bird’s view from east of San Giacomo in Paludo
38
View of the lagoon with San Giacomo in Paludo
39
0
40
5 10
20
40 m
Description of morphological and architectural
features
GLOX
GLOX
GLOX
Plan of San Giacomo in Paludo
The island has an area of 12,000 square meters,
it originally housed a hospital, later turned into
a monastery (XI century) that was abandoned in
the eighteenth century and finally demolished.
Since 1810 the island was used as a powder warehouse until 1961, when it was abandoned in
1993, the Magistrato alle Acque has taken steps
to initiate the restoration of some parts of the
island, which nevertheless has undergone, in recent decades a rapid and profound degradation;
the degradation, in addition to military buildings,
has also affected the wall. Now the island is under license from the State of the environmental
association VAS (Verdi Ambiente e Società).
San Giacomo in Paludo has a quadrangular form
emphasized from the brick wall that runs along
the perimeter and gives a clear and regular figure.
The island is invested by the constant wave action caused by wind from North-East (the Bora)
of up to 80 km / h. These phenomena typical of
the Venetian lagoon created such damage that
it requires surgery to strengthen and rebuild the
embankment wall collapsed on the east side of
enlarging the surface and preserving the archaeological remains of a medieval secure degradation.
The buildings are nineteenth-century constrution,
with the exception of the cavana, artifact of the
seventeenth century, we witness from the Coro-
41
nelli’s engravings of his isolario in 1696. All architectural structures are built in brick with wood
trusses.
The officers’ barracks, located along the perimeter of the island on the northwest corner, is the
first building you see coming from Venice, on the
north side, towards the canal, we find an arc with
a neo gothical aedicuale contains a copy of the
relief of the Madonna e il Bambino, until a few
years ago the object of veneration for the locals,
the original bas-relief is preserved in the Church
of Mazzorbo.
The three largest buildings, built by the Austrians
and the Italians also used as military depots, are
arranged with respect to the longitudinal dimension of the island, two horizontally and one vertically. The two horizontal position buildings were
GLOX
The structure of the gunpowder storage
The wooden pillars that
supported the ammunition dumps buinlings
were called “Cristi”,
The ammunition depot is
surrounded by a wire mesh
that served as a faraday
cage, to prevent lightning
set fire to the building
42
Front North-west of the gunpowder storage
used as deposits of gunpowder, and had thick
walls 1.50 meters to defend the attacks from fire
and explosives. A wire mesh wrapped around the
volume of powder acting as a Faraday cage that
is, from the electrical conductor capable of isolating the internal environment from any electrostatic field present at its outside, to prevent fires
caused by lightning.
The third building military depot used for storing equipment had a floor was raised above the
ground to prevent that the moisture could attack
the army ammunition depots.
In addition to the buildings are three to five meters high embankments, created to protect the
deposits of ammunition from the cannon attacks
and to prevent the explosion of a powder magazine would inevitably involve the other.
GLOX
Enviroment
The volumes coming out
of the barracksare latrine
used by military officers
The barracks from the lagoon
The island has an advanced state of degradation,
primarily determined by the total removal of the
vegetation operated by the military for security
reasons, he left the field open, once abandoned
the island, a typical weed flora.
In the state tree dominate the Alianto (Alianthus
top) and black Robinia (Robina pseudoacacia);
the ivy (Hedera helix) and bramble (Rubus Sp)
are the typical vegetation of the forest floor. The
Alianto tends to grow especially in the vicinity of
the buildings, while the Robinia predominates in
the sunniest areas. There is a plane tree (Platanus
hybrida) now close to death because they stifled
by the thick vegetation. There are some plants of
elder (Sambucus nigra) and fig (Ficus carica).
43
Hystory
The island, over the centuries, changed its function several times, changing from a hospice for
pilgrims to the convent for nuns and then to the
Franciscans, finally become a military powder
and be abandoned in the second half of the twentieth century.
On the island of San Giacomo in Paludo in the
presence of permanent settlements of the early
Middle Ages, if not earlier, is confirmed in some
recent archaeological finds.
In 1046 AD, during the reign of the doge Piero Polani, Orso Badoer granted to Giovanni Tron
Mazzorbo a stretch of marshland between Murano and Burano in order to build a home help to
the militias and pilgrims to the Holy Land. The
hospital dedicated to San Giacomo Maggiore had
two functions: on the one hand stay travelers and
the other hand to keep them far enough away
from the city for reasons of health and public order.
In 1238 the Cistercian nuns transformed in the
convent became the hospice, expanding the perimeter of the island with further concessions of
the Church of Murano, the beginning of ‘400 the
structures of the settlement, inhabited by only
two professed, were in complete disrepair and
used as a quarry for building materials.
After various vicissitudes, the island in 1469, was
aggregated to the Venetian convent of Santa Maria dei Frari, the Friars Minor Conventual they provided to build a chapel on the island from scratch,
a small monastery, a guesthouse and other local
44
View of San Giacomo in Palduo
engraving by Coronelli XVII century
GLOX
Plan of the provisional military Genius of the Venetian
Republic 1840
The “cavana” was in
the existing plant on
the island since the
beginning, when there
was the Convent
Plan of the austrian fort in 1840
The tracks led the
ammunition from the
entrance to the depots
The three batteries
were installed by the
Austrians when there
was still the convent
45
children, giving instead rent in the private garden
and the vineyard which guaranteed a decent annual income.
The church of the thirteenth century, twentythree long Venetian steps (one Venetian steps is
1,74 meters) and a width of ten (so its 40 meters
long and 17,3 meters width), had three altars, the
altar dedicated to San Giacomo, the other, respectively, the one to the Vergine Maria and the San
Giovanni Battista, Francesco, Antonio and Bernardino, the other to San Nicola di Bari.
In 1778 the Superintendent of Venetian artillery,
Domenico Gasparoni, looking for a safe place to
concentrate the powder keg of Venice, perhaps
the memory of the terrible explosion occurred
eighty years earlier in Sant’Angelo alle Polveri,
found in San Giacomo, now without even the monastery, the place for this destination. The plan
was never realized because of high costs and long
lead times too.
In early 1800, following the Napoleonic decrees
on religious orders, the Friary was suppressed and
demolished, and the island of San Giacomo was
used for military purposes.
In 1849 a plan of the military genius of the Provisional Republic of Venice, saw the presence of
three gun batteries, installed in the corners, north
east and south.
At the beginning of this century the eighteenthcentury project of operation by San Giacomo in
powder is finally realized, and in fact, removed the
batteries, powder magazines can accommodate
three separate ramparts: two for the gunpowder,
and a third for storage of lightweight equipment.
After the Second World War, the island lost its
The nuns & monk’s tombs
the old tombs of monks
and nuns were found
during an archaeological
campaign in the northwest of the island
The old pier was located
to the east of the island
and used for loading /
unloading of ammunition
46
strategic importance, so that the military administration in 1960 gave up the property in 1961
and abandoned it.
In September 1975, the Venezia Biennale of Theatre directed by Franco Quadri used one of the
military bunkers, adapted for the occasion, to accommodate the representation “Apocalipsis Cum
Figuris” directed by Jerzy Grotowsky, the theater
and various seminars held by the director himself,
shortly after, from ‘military building housed the
representations were illegally removed the floor
boards.
After the Biennale of Theatre, San Giacomo was
again abandoned and forgotten until, in 1993,
began the restoration work by the Magistrato
alle Acque, and these included the restoration of
the small building overlooking the canal with the
shrine containing the relief of neo-Gothic Madonna, the cavana and a stretch of shore.
In September 2011 the island was reopened to
the public for the festival “Isole in Rete” and has
hosted theatrical and musical events.
Internal view of the
ammonition warehouse
The coverage of the deposit was made of wood
trusses. This building
used to store ammunition exhausted.
GLOX
Photo of the island in 1950
47
Potential
There are many potential island of San Giacomo in
Paludo, justifying the hypothesis of intervention that
goes beyond the mere occupation of the site for purposes of custody.
It ‘s the only one of the deserted islands of the Venetian Lagoon that is easily accessible using existing
transmission lines, and its geographical location in
the barycentric system of the northern lagoon makes
it a site of primary importance in the management of
any initiative for environment, recreational, museum
and a place of hospitality.
San Giacomo in Paludo may become the new port of
the north lagoon, strategic location and the tourist
point of departure for excursions.
The presence of archaeological sites, with wide green
spaces, and the fact that the island is located along
the migratory routes of some birds can equip it also
features bird watching, nature observatory and laboratory teaching.
St. James in Paludo has been the subject of various
proposals for the creation of a future park, planned by
planning schemes.
Buildings on the island have already been used, including the Venice Biennale, as exhibition halls and are
suitable for the type and volume of use to a social and
collective. This will allow us to reactivate the island,
giving new meaning to become a new actor on the
stage lagoon.
The island afler the restaration
48
The embankments divide
the ammunition dumps to
prevent the fire could be
propagated building to
building
49
Axonometry of San Giacomo in Paludo
The walls are 1,80 m
thick in order to protect
the ammonition dump
the embankment was
high up to 5 meters
5
The “cavana”: the only
monastery building left
1 Gunpowder storage
2 Storage lightweight equipment
3 Officer military barrack
4 Boathouse “cavana”
5 aedicule. of the low relief
6 Agricultural storage
50
1
4
The old walls erased
from the wind and the
wind and the waves
The floor was raised
above the ground in
order to preserve the
ammonition from the
humidy
1
2
6
3
0
5
10
20
40 m
51
Lagoon maps
Mazzorbetto fort
San Giacomo in Paludo
Starting point
(marine terminal)
52
Torcello
Burano
53
Glossary
Acqua alta
Typical phenomenon in the venetian lagoon – with woodpe
ckers of tide very pronounced that provoke flood in the insular urban area
Altana small wooden terraces decorating the rooftops with flowers; they are often situated on fine columns of bricks but the rest always seems very fragile
Arsenale Shipyard for the building and repair of warship. In the vene
tian dialect, “arzanà”, from the Arab ‘dar as-sin-ah”
Bacaro Small restaurant where you can still eat exclusively typical dishes and enjoy “cicheti”
Batteria
It’s a work fortified in which find place one or more pieces of artillery. The battery discovery consists of a pitch rectangular protected on three sides by a parapet of stone and cement which are made niches or riservette for ammunition and can
accommodate from four to six pieces of artillery. This type of battery has the advantage of using an extended shooting
range, but does not offer great shelter for the crew and
armament.
54
Barene islets formed by sediments brought in by the sea and wild and somewhat varied vegetation grows there, they are covered with
water during high tide.
Blockhaus
Small defensive building. Once, the block-haus, was designa
ted as a block-square building made of logs and surrounded by a moat whose excavation land was placed on the roof and vertical and horizontal served as protection
Bora
Rather violent east-north-east wind which blows on Adriatic
Bragòsso Most commonly-used fishing-boat in the northern Adriatic. It measured from 9 to 16 metres, with a width a quarter of its length, with a flat bottom with a slight longitudinal sheer
Bricole
Posts planted in the lagoon to indicate the channels to boats. To move away from it almost certainly means running ashore.
Bucintoro
Boat of the doges, covered with gold leaf, of course, as all that was affiliated with the doges was wealth. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by Napoleon.
Ca’
abbreviation of Casa, the home. “Casa” corresponds to a palace: Ca’ d’Oro, Ca’ Pesaro, Ca’ Dario...
Calle
Venetia for “street” or “road”, generally long and narrow
Campo Venetian for “piazza” (square), the “campo” almost systemati
cally has the right to a church.
Campielli
Small venetian square with ‘calle’ leading off them
Casamatta
Work of permanent fortification intended to accommodate one or more weapons of the infantry or artillery piece, the casamatta is an element of a complex defensive system
Cassa di colmata A reclaimed aera of the lagoon, but never used by industry
Cavana
Typical shelter for lagoon boats
Cicheti
Snacks and appetisers
Cinta
work of permanent fortification built around a fortress or a walled city to allow the defenders to fight a dominant
position, protected by walls or embankments
Corte
common courtyards for several houses. They often reach it by a
little calle or a porch.
Embankment
Work of defense consists of a rising edge of land which was constituted by a quay for riflemen and, at times, for light artillery; ran at the foot within the covered road, outside the ditch. In the bastioned fortification was the work external running around the ramparts and the crescent. Entrenched camps constituted the boundary of the continuous body of the square.
Doge
Term indicating the highest authority in the Venetian and Genoan Republics until the 18th century. From the Latin ‘dux’
Felze Removable cabin on gondolas
Fondaco Depot or warehous. From the Arab ‘funduq’
Fondamenta
Road parallel to a canal. The name comes from its function as a foundation for the palaces that line the canal
Fontego Venetian for depot or warehouse, synonym of ‘fondaco’
Foresti
People from outside, coming from another place
Fortification
Military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensi-
ve works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasin-
55
gly complex designs. The term is derived from the Latin fortis (“strong”) and facere (“to make”).
Fronte
Ghebbo The complex of high buildings on each side of the polygon basis. Each edge could be constituted by a single straight section or more sections arranged in line in broken.
Small, not very deep, natural canal thus unsuitable with navi
gation in the Venetian lagoon but which on the other hand makes it possible to help with the regulation of the tides.
Gondola Original form:gondolam. Of unknow origin, possibly Latin cymbula (small boat) or cuncula (shell); or Greek kundy
(small ship) or kuntò-helas (push)
Lavoriero
A special structure used for fishing
Masegni Typical paving stone on the streets of Venice.
Magistrato alle acque Important position of public authority to manage and protect the lagoon of Venice
Murazzi A wall 20 km long, made from blocks of istria stone set vertically on the lagoon side and at an angle fa
cing the Adriatic
Onda lunga
Surging mass of water moved by the wind or other forces. In the Venice area, caused by the passage of motorboat in the canals
Procuratie Office/ residence of the Procurator of St. Mark
Procurator
Proto
Title used by various official and magistrates with administrative roles, mostly at a higher level
Director of works in Venice. Sansovino was a proto of
San Marco, during the XVIcent.
Ridotto Permanent work constructed within another building to allow the defender, who finds refuge in it, to prolong resistance. The area, generally built in defense, where the troops fall back to the operations, to delay the surrender of a resistance to the end
56
Rio terà Old canal, now filled in and used as pedestian way
Riva
Stretch of paved street flanking a canal
River flood beds
Strips of even land between the bank and the bed of a River that stay in dry season
Rondella
Tower of circular plan of large diameter, separated from the boundary towards the ditch. To defend themselves from the increasing power of artillery towers increased in diameter, be
came more prominent in the ditch. Were also lowered in height
and deprived of projecting structures to make them less vulne
rable to artillery fire. Deprived defense pouncing so this was compensated with the flanking walls obtained by detaching and connecting with them through the bottom of the steps were repaired by two muri.These rooms on several floors were opened to the throat of a courtyard to give vent to the smoke and decrease the sound of shots.
Ruga Street flanked on both sides by shops, workshop and houses
Sacca
An artificial island
Salizada Wide important road, paved since ancient times
Sensa
Ascension. The day that Christians celebrated Jesus Christ’s ascension to Heaven
Serenissima
Official name of the Venetian Republic
Sestieri The six districts of Venice: Castello, Canareggio, Dorsoduro, San
Marco, San Polo, Santa Croce
Sottoportego
Streets that passes under a building
Silting up
Introduction of turbid waters in a hollow in the ground in order
to fill via precipitation of suspended materials.
In italian: “colmata”.
Squero Boatyard where small wooden boats are built, especially
gondolas
Tombolo cylindrical padded cushion used for sewing
Trabàcolo
well-known transport boat about twenty metres long, with two
masts and bowsprit, widely used in all areas of the northern Adriatic. It was built following the classic rules of naval con
struction with timbers on a keel.
Vaporetto
Venetian bus, a steam bus that is rather ancient. It is the public
transport of Venice, the transport company is call ACTV
Velme Areas without vegetation and normally submerged, only
emerging at low type. Litterally: “humps”
57
Bibliography
AA.VV., L’architettura militare veneta del Cinquecento, a cura del Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura “Andrea Palladio” di Vicenza, Electa, Milano, 1988.
Baso G., Scarso M., Tonini C., La Laguna di Venezia nella cartografia storica a stampa
del Museo Correr,, IUAV Circe, Marsilio, Musei Civici Veneziani, Venezia, 2003.
Calabi D. (a cura di), Dopo la Serenissima. Società, amministrazione e cultura nell’Ottocento veneto, Istituto Veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti, Venezia, 2001.
Caniato G., Turri E., Zanetti M.(a cura di), La laguna di Venezia, Cierre Edizioni, Verona, 1995.
Cappai C., Segantini M. A., Infrastrutture dello sguardo. Il restauro della torre Massimiliana nell’isola di Sant’Erasmo a Venezia, Marsilio, Venezia, 2004.
Ciacci L. (a cura di), Venezia è una città, Marsilio, Ve nezia, 2004
Comune di Venezia, Invito alle Isole informazioni e documenti sulle isole minori della
laguna di Venezia, Tip. Commerciale, Venezia, 1983.
Colamussi A., Isole della Laguna di Venezia : guida aerofotografica del territorio,
Endeavour, Ferrara, 2007.
Crovato G., Crovato M., Isole abbandonate della Laguna: com’erano e come sono.
Catalogo della mostra tenuta a Venezia nel 1978, Liviana, Venezia, 1978.
Filippi G. (a cura di), Della difesa di Venezia. Giacomo Nani, Istituto Veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti, Venezia, 1997.
Grillo S., Le Fortificazioni Lagunari Napoleoniche 1805-1814. Disegni della Biblioteca
del servizio storico dell’Armata di terra. Castello di Vincennes. Parigi, I.U.A.V., D.S.T.R.,
Venezia, 1989.
Lane F. C., Storia di Venezia, Einaudi, Torino, 1991.
Marchesi P., Fortezze veneziane 1508-1797, Rusconi Immagini, Milano, 1984.
Masiero F., Le isole delle lagune venete, Mursia, Milano, 1981.
Moro P., Il piano di attacco austriaco contro Venezia : il territorio, la laguna, i fiumi,
i forti e le città nell’anno 1900 : con le schede sulla storia e lo stato attuale delle
fortificazioni veneziane, Marsilio, Venezia, 2001.
Piamonte G., Litorali ed isole: Guida della laguna veneta, Filippi, Venezia, 1975.
Rossini G. (a cura di), Venezia fra arte e guerra 1866-1918. Opere di difesa, patrimonio culturale, artisti, fotografi, Edizioni Gabriele Mazzotta, Milano, 2003.
58
Stefinlongo G.B., Il giardino del doge, i giardini del popolo: studi sul restauro urbano
e sul recupero e riuso delle isole e delle fortificazioni della Laguna di Venezia, Sottomarina, Il leggio libreria editrice, Chioggia, 1998
Zanlorenzi C. (a cura di), I forti di Mestre. Storia di un campo trincerato, a cura diStampato a cura del Coordinamento per il recupero del Campo Trincerato di Mestre
ed Altri.,Venezia, 1997.
Zorzi A., Venezia Scomparsa, Electa, Venezia, 1971.
Web Sites
www.bingmaps.com
www.campotrincerato.it
www.comune.venezia.it
www.fortificazioni.net
www.googlemaps.com
www.quagliati.altervista.org
www.regione.veneto.it
www.salve.it
www.venicearchipelago.com
www.wikipedia.com
59
Contents
Introduction
Mauro Marzo
60
4
Fortified lagoon
History of ideas of fortification in the Lagoon of Venice
Marco Ballarin
8
Mazzorbetto fort
Location, morphological description, architectural features,
history and potential
Alessandro Bonadio
20
San Giacomo in Paludo
Location, morphological description, architectural features,
history and potential
Alessandro Bonadio
36
Lagoon Maps
52
Glossary
54
Bibliography
58
Finished printing
in the month of april 2012 on behalf of
Università Iuav di Venezia

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