From above, Palmanova looks less like a town and more like a carefully drawn star set into the plains of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. Founded by the Republic of Venice in 1593, this fortress city was designed for defence, order and spectacle. Its streets radiate from a central square, while its walls are shaped into a precise nine-pointed pattern. That geometry was no accident. Palmanova became one of the most influential models of early modern military architecture. It was protected by concentric fortifications built first under Venice and later strengthened and expanded during the Napoleonic period.
Aerial view of Palmanova, a fortress city in Friuli, Italy
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
National Cherry Blossom Festival, Washington, DC, United States
-
The Great Blue Hole, Belize
-
Male white rhinoceroses
-
Polar bear cubs
-
An orca near the Chilkat Mountains, Lynn Canal, Alaska, USA
-
Macaroni penguins
-
Snowy owl near the Canadian Rockies
-
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, United States
-
Alfanzina lighthouse, Algarve, Portugal
-
Diamond Beach, Iceland
-
Tulip fields in spring, Skagit Valley, Washington, USA
-
Skógafoss waterfall, Iceland
-
Boreal owl
-
Icebergs, Antarctica
-
Tombeau du Géant in Bouillon, Belgium
-
A great egret in the Pantanal
-
Glacier National Park, Montana
-
Brown-throated three-toed sloth
-
Red fox
-
International Space Station
-
Grey seal pup
-
African elephants, Amboseli National Park, Kenya
-
Grizzly bears, Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA
-
Old City of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia, Croatia
-
Town of Pienza in Tuscany, Italy
-
Black grouse males, Estonia
-
Pacific sea nettle jellyfish
-
Wooden path to Kennedy Lake, Vancouver Island, Canada
-
Lavender fields in Plateau de Valensole, France
-
Autumn colours below Mount Sneffels near Ridgway, Colorado, United States
Bing Wallpaper Gallery

