The Stratified City: Military Architecture and Urban Experience in Sixteenth-Century Italy

Abstract

Sixteenth-century fortifications have long been analyzed with exclusive reference to trends in gunpowder warfare, even though their polymath architects also engaged themselves energetically in the design of churches, palaces, and gardens. My dissertation significantly reframes our understanding of Renaissance military architectural developments by charting the cross-pollination of analogous constructional and morphological paradigms across various domains of building practice. It draws particular attention to projects by a group of architects working for the Farnese dynasty in Italy, c. 1530–1600, who undertook remarkable experiments in the design and construction of urban infrastructure, subterranean circulation, and earthworks.