Fortifications at Piacenza. Historical background, restoration, open-air museum and urban planning

Abstract

[EN] The “modern” fortifications at Piacenza are situated at a significant physical and cultural crossroads linking the Mediterranean and roads leading to Central Europe and the North Sea. This paper aims to include their historical bastion features and city walls within an open-air educational museum that is well integrated within the modern town. Starting from the original basis of a defensive nature conceived to mark boundaries and divide kingdoms, the plan is to build a park which, by means of a fully-equipped green belt, is able to narrate the story of the Siegecraft and Renaissance apse techniques. At the same time, the aim is to explain how such a system may serve as a valuable means of allowing sustainable urban transport along with that of respecting and highlighting cultural heritage. In order to tell the complete story, an attempt is made to describe how direct relief may relate to the “compact town”.