The trace italienne is a style of fortification that was developed in Italy in the late 15th and early 16th century in response, primarily to the French invasion of the Italian peninsula. The French army was equipped with new cannons and bombards that were able to easily destroy traditional fortifications built in the middle ages. Nakhal Fort, one of the best-preserved forts in Oman. ... A small cast-iron cannon on a carriage A cannon is any large tubular firearm designed to fire a heavy projectile over a considerable distance. ... A bombard is a type of medieval cannon or mortar, used chiefly in sieges for throwing heavy stone balls. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...

In order to counteract the power of the new weapons, defensive walls were made lower and thicker. They were built of many materials, usually dirt and stone. Another important design modification was the bastions that characterized the new fortresses. In order to improve the defense of the fortress, covering fire had to be provided, often from multiple angles. The result was the development of "star" shaped fortresses. The point of a bastion on a reconstructed French fort in Illinois. ...

The design spread out of Italy in the 1530s and 40s. It was employed heavily throughout Europe for the following 2-3 centuries. Italian engineers were heavily in demand throughout Europe to help build the new fortifications.

The late 17th century architects Vauban and Menno van Coehoorn are considered to have taken the form to its logical extreme. "Fortressess... acquired ravelins and redoubts, bonnettes and lunettes, tenailles and tenaillons, counterguards and crownworks and hornworks and curvettes and fausse brayes and scarps and cordons and banquettes and counterscarps... that baroque profusion." Vauban designed this pentagonal fortress to withstand sieges. ... Menno, baron van Coehoorn (1641 - March 17, 1704), Dutch soldier and military engineer, of Swedish extraction. ...

Construction

Due to the massive expense of constructing these new fortifications, they were often improvised from earlier defences. Medieval curtain walls were torn down and a ditch was dug in front of them. The earth used from the excavation was piled behind the walls to create a soild structure. While purpouse built fortifications would often have a brick facia beucase of the material's ability to absorb the shock of artillery fire, many improvised defences cut costs by missing this stage out and instead opted for more earth. Improvisation could also consist of lowering medieval round towers and infilling them with earth to strengthen the structures.

It was also often necessary to widen and deepen the ditch outside the walls so create a more effective barrier to frontal assault and mining. Engineers from the 1520s were also building massive gentle sloping banks of earth called glacis in front of ditches so that the walls were almost totally hidden from horizontal artillery fire. The main benefit of the glacis was to deny enemy artillery the ability to fire point blank. The higher the angle of elevation, the lower the stopping power. A glacis, in military engineering (see Fortification and Siege) is an artificial slope of earth in the front of works, so constructed as to keep an assailant under the fire of the defenders to the last possible moment. ...

An example of the great expense of updating fortifications is the city of Siena, which went bankrupt in 1544 attempting to update its city walls.

Notable Instances

The first key instance of Trace Italienne was at the Papal port of Civitavechhia where the original walls were lowered and thickened because the stone tended to shatter under bombardment. Pope John Paul II has reigned since 22 Oct 1978. ...

The first major battle which truly showed the effectiveness of Trace Italienne was the defence of Pisa in 1500 against a combined Florentine and French army. The original medieval fortifications beginning to crumble to French cannon fire, the Pisans constructed an earthen rampart behind the threatened sector. It was discovered that the sloping earthen rampart could be defended against escalade and was also hugely resistant to canon shot than the curtain wall it had replaced. Pisas coat of arms This article is about Pisa in Italy. ... // Events Europes population was ~60 million. ... Florence (Italian, Firenze) is a city in the center of Tuscany, in central Italy, on the Arno River, with a population of around 400,000, plus a suburban population in excess of 200,000. ... Pisas coat of arms. ... Rampart may mean: A type of defensive wall consisting of a low earthen embankment topped by a parapet or palisade. ... For the SUV vehicle, see Cadillac Escalade. ... A curtain wall is a common feature of medieval castles. ...

The second siege was that of Padua in 1509. A monk engineer named Fra Giocondo, trusted with the defence of the Venician city, cut down the city's medieval wall and surrounded the city in a broad ditch that could be swept by flanking fire from gunports set low in projections extending into the ditch. Finding that their cannon fire made little impression on these low ramparts, the French and allied besiegers made several bloody and fruitless assault and then withdrew. Location within Italy Tronco Maestro Riviera: a pedestrian walk along a section of the inland waterway or naviglio interno of Padua The city of Padua (Lat. ... // Events February 2 - Battle of Diu took place near Diu, India. ... Fra Giocondo (sometimes known as Fra Giovanni Giocondo) was a monk engineer, architect, antiquary, archaeologist, and classical scholar born in Verona c. ... A ditch is a small trench or depression usually created to drain water from low lying areas, alongside roadways or fields. ...

Effectiveness

Despite the advantages of these fortresses over earlier designs, "most first-class fortresses could be taken in roughly six to eight weeks."

In his writing The Art of War (Machiavelli) Machiavelli said:"There is no wall, whatever its thickness that artillery will not destroy in only a few days" The Art of War (Dellarte della guerra), is one of the lesser- read works of Florentine statesman and political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli. ... Detail of the portrait of Machiavelli, ca 1500, in the robes of a Florentine public official Niccolò Machiavelli (May 3, 1469—June 21, 1527) was an Italian political philosopher during the Renaissance. ...