Bergamo’s walls frame distant views of the Alps, boats drift through the canals of Peschiera del Garda, and Palmanova’s vast central square is quiet at dawn. These scenes are a far cry from the military purpose behind the three cities’ fortifications, built to protect the Republic of Venice’s mainland territory between the 16th and 17th centuries. A representative group of these defensive works was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2017.

The fortifications grew out of Venice’s rivalry with the Ottoman Empire over control of the northern Adriatic and with the Habsburgs along its land border. Centuries later, the structures that once helped monitor and repel armies have become places for walking, taking in the landscape and discovering a quieter side of northern Italy.

In Bergamo, Venetian rule strengthened a city already divided between the walled Città Alta and the lower Città Bassa. Its defenses followed the Renaissance trace italienne, using lower, thicker walls and angled bastions designed to withstand cannon fire. Today, a roughly six-kilometre route follows the fortifications on foot or by bicycle, with views across the Lombard plain and, on clear days, the Alps. The Rocca di Bergamo museum fortress offers another vantage point over the city.

At the southern end of Lake Garda, Peschiera del Garda used the lake, the Mincio River and a network of canals as part of its defenses. The waterways made the settlement an island-like stronghold guarding an important route between northern Italy and the Po Valley. Its canals now draw recreational boats and visitors, while the largely flat paths along the Mincio are popular with cyclists.

Palmanova was designed from scratch as a Renaissance ideal city. Its radial streets lead to the hexagonal Piazza Grande, also known as Piazza d’Armi, once a gathering place for troops and now a venue for large concerts. The plan’s geometric precision did not make the isolated fortress an easy place to populate: around three decades after its founding, Venice offered pardons, land and building materials to prisoners willing to settle within its walls.

Together, the three cities show how military landscapes have taken on a different role. Their fortifications, once built to defend Venice’s mainland possessions, now shape places to explore on foot and pause beside the surrounding scenery.

Sources: La Vanguardia.