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:
-
View of the Sanguinaires Islands from Corsica, France
-
Misool, Raja Ampat Islands
-
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, United States
-
Millau Viaduct, France
-
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
-
Sunflowers
-
Iguazú Falls, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil
-
Icicles of Misotsuchi, Chichibu, Japan
-
Whytecliff Park, West Vancouver, Canada
-
Birch trees, Drammen, Norway
-
Sunrise at a vineyard in Bordeaux, France
-
Muir Woods National Monument, California, United States
-
Butchart Gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada
-
Bora Bora in French Polynesia
-
Sarek National Park, Laponia, Lapland, Sweden
-
Yellow-spotted river turtle, Amazon Region, Ecuador
-
Grey-headed flying fox carrying her pup, Australia
-
Chinstrap penguins
-
African elephants
-
An iris garden in Tokyo, Japan
-
Devils Bridge, Kromlau, Saxony, Germany
-
Port de Saint-Goustan, Auray, Brittany, France
-
Green-crowned brilliant
-
Veined octopus
-
Turtles with butterflies
-
Bormio, Lombardy, Italy
-
Beach huts, Southwold, Suffolk Heritage Coast, England
-
Phra Nakhon Khiri, Thailand
-
Blue-footed booby, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador
-
Vineyards in Varnhalt, Black Forest, Germany
Bing Wallpaper Gallery

