Parco dei Bastioni

Palmanova's Bastions Park occupies the earthworks of the star-shaped fortress, where Venetian and later military structures form a broad green landscape.

Why it matters

The park makes Palmanova's defensive system legible as terrain. Bastions, ravelins, lunettes, guard buildings and powder stores reveal a military design shaped by the range and placement of artillery. The vegetated ramparts and the Roggia di Palma channel also show how water and landscape were incorporated into the fortress.

What to notice

Named works include the Bastione Garzoni, a ravelin with a countermine gallery and the triangular Napoleonic lunettes with casemates. The Roggia di Palma runs beside the earthworks and descends into the moat. Former Venetian and Napoleonic barracks and a large powder magazine built of Medea stone preserve later military uses of the complex.

Context and history

Founded in 1593, Palmanova was enlarged through later defensive campaigns, including seventeenth-century strengthening and a Napoleonic outer ring of lunettes. Military use continued into the twentieth century. After the garrison era, the earthworks passed into public use and became a park, preserving the layered Venetian, Napoleonic and later military structures within the star-fortress landscape.