L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 8 THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2025 L'Italo-Americano ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS PEOPLE ACTIVITIES ward symmetrically. Belpas- so, often referred to as the "chessboard of Mount Etna," was rebuilt using a rectangu- lar grid with wide streets and clear lines of orienta- tion. Unlike Palmanova, nei- t h e r o f t h e s e t o w n s w a s d e s i g n e d f o r s y m b o l i c o r m i l i t a r y r e a s o n s ; r a t h e r , they are a sign of alacrity, recovery, and of a yearning for safety. The emphasis on geometry as a guiding prin- c i p l e , h o w e v e r , r e m a i n s strong here, too. Very interestingly, not all examples of geometric plan- ning in Italy were ever real- ized. In the fifteenth centu- ry, the architect Filarete proposed a visionary plan for Sforzinda, a city named after his patron Francesco Sforza; Sforzinda was never built, but the design imag- ined a perfect, star-shaped town with radial streets, cir- cular walls, and carefully p l a c e d p u b l i c b u i l d i n g s . S f o r z i n d a w a s p a r t o f a broader intellectual move- ment that linked good gov- ernance with rational urban form and suggested that the s t r u c t u r e o f a c i t y c o u l d shape the moral and politi- cal behavior of its inhabi- arranged to support defense and access, and the struc- t u r e o f t h e w a l l s d e m o n - strating a clear interest in maintaining both symmetry and functionality. Today, Cittadella is still one of the best-preserved examples of medieval military architec- ture in Italy, and visitors can w a l k a l o n g t h e r e s t o r e d walls to get a full sense of the design from above. In Sicily, a very different set of motivations led to the c r e a t i o n o f t o w n s w i t h equally distinctive geometric layouts. After the devastat- ing earthquake of 1693, much of southeastern Sicily h a d t o b e r e b u i l t f r o m scratch, and it is in this con- text that planners had the opportunity, as well as the n e c e s s i t y , t o c r e a t e n e w towns that were safer, more rational, and easier to navi- gate. Two notable examples a r e G r a m m i c h e l e a n d Belpasso, both developed w i t h a g r i d s y s t e m t h a t reflected Enlightenment val- ues and a focus on practical urban management; Gram- m i c h e l e , i n p a r t i c u l a r , i s k n o w n f o r i t s h e x a g o n a l plan, with a central square and streets radiating out- tants. Although it remained t h e o r e t i c a l , t h e i d e a o f Sforzinda had an impact on l a t e r a r c h i t e c t s a n d c i t y planners, especially those working on fortified towns during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. T a k e n t o g e t h e r , t h e s e examples show the key role a n d m a n y p u r p o s e s o f geometry in Italian urban d e s i g n . I n s o m e c a s e s , g e o m e t r y w a s u s e d t o improve defense; in others, it was needed for control, reconstruction, or symbolic harmony. Today, cities tend to develop in more chaotic and organic ways, so these g e o m e t r i c a l l y d e s i g n e d towns give us a completely d i f f e r e n t i d e a o f u r b a n a r c h i t e c t u r e , o n e w h e r e order in space could reflect or even promote order in society. In Italy, history and design are often layered and complex, but these towns are notable for their clarity, intentionality, and quiet reg- ularity. Serene in their regu- larity, they remind us that the shape of a place is never just a matter of aesthetics, but also a statement about how people live, govern, and imagine their world. walls and a central hexago- nal piazza from which six main roads radiate outward. The geometry of the town was meant to facilitate sur- veillance, military coordina- tion, and symbolic control, but it is also a true reflection of the ideals of Renaissance urban theory, in which cities w e r e i m a g i n e d a s m i c r o - cosms of harmony and pro- portion. This is why Pal- manova is often cited as one of the clearest examples of t h e " i d e a l c i t y " c o n c e p t turned into a physical reali- t y . T h e t o w n n e v e r q u i t e grew to the size or signifi- c a n c e i t s p l a n n e r s h a d h o p e d , b u t i t s d e s i g n remains intact and has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Another fortified town that shows the strategic use of geometry is Cittadella, in Veneto. Built in the early thirteenth century by the Paduans as a military out- post, Cittadella is character- ized by its near-perfect cir- cular wall, complete with regularly spaced towers and a moat. While its plan is less complex than that of Pal- manova, it is no less precise, w i t h i n t e r n a l s t r e e t s I n i t s l o n g h i s t o r y , Italy showed consis- t e n t a t t e n t i o n t o s y m m e t r y a n d geometry when it comes to urban planning. Think of classical Roman castra or the Renaissance's i d e a l c i t i e s , b u t a l s o o f p o s t - d i s a s t e r r e c o n - structions in the modern era: all examples of a yearn- i n g f o r a r c h i t e c t u r a l a n d structural regularity. I n d e e d , s e v e r a l I t a l i a n towns and cities have been created following precise, often strikingly regular, spa- tial layouts, mirroring wider ideas about order, defense, political power, and civic life; still today, a handful of these places stands out for the clarity and ambition of their designs, and allows us to look more closely at how g e o m e t r y s h a p e d I t a l y ' s physical and cultural land- scape. In our brief excursus, we couldn't help but start with the city of Turin. Originally established as Augusta Tau- rinorum in Roman times, Turin was laid out following t h e t y p i c a l c a s t r u m model, with a grid of per- pendicular streets organized around two main axes: the cardo and the decumanus, a pattern that remained visi- ble through the Middle Ages and was later reinforced and expanded in the seventeenth century, when the House of Savoy developed Turin as a modern capital. The result is a city still defined by long, straight avenues, regular city blocks, and a series of inter- c o n n e c t e d s q u a r e s f i l l e d w i t h b o t h c l a s s i c a l a n d Baroque beauty. Walking through Turin today, it is easy to see how its layout e n c o u r a g e s c l a r i t y a n d movement, while also sup- porting the idea that, with a tiny bit of attention, it's very difficult to get lost in its city center! F u r t h e r e a s t , i n F r i u l i Venezia Giulia, the town of Palmanova represents one of the most ambitious urban p l a n n i n g p r o j e c t s o f t h e e a r l y m o d e r n p e r i o d . Founded by the Venetian Republic in 1593, Palmano- va was conceived as both a military fortress and a model city; its nine-point- ed star-shaped layout was designed to provide maxi- mum defensive advantage, w i t h c o n c e n t r i c r i n g s o f GIULIA FRANCESCHINI Built on a grid: geometry and design in the Italian landscape Turin, the quintessential geometric city (Photo: Dan Rentea/Dreamstime); bottom right, the main square in Palmanova (Photo: Sergio delle Vedove/Dreamstime)

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