Palmanova, defense geometries

On the north side of the A4, almost 20 km south of Udine, there is a town that if at first glance it seems like all the others, it is sufficient to cross one of its three access gates, Porta Aquileia, Porta Udine and Porta Cividale, and follow some of its ways, to realize that it is something special. It is Palmanova, a village of about 5,300 inhabitants in Friuli Venezia Giulia in the province of Udine, known as the starry city. Seen from above, the layout of the town has a polygonal star plan with 9 points consisting of a bastion balustrade surrounded by a moat with the same shape. An external road follows the same perimeter. In the town, the blocks radiate out from a central hexagonal square, Piazza Grande, from which the streets stretch out and diverge for each corner and each side of the geometric figure, intersected by others parallel to each side of the hexagon almost forming a spider's web. This conformation is not accidental. The village was conceived and built by the Venetians in 1593 as a Fortress City for military and defensive purposes in the area at the time on the border with the Habsburgs. Today's result is a surprising geometric interweaving that in 2017 placed the city in the Unesco World Heritage Site and made it a leading international tourist and cultural attraction.