Los baluartes del palacio señorial de Betxí. ¿Una fortificación real o ficticia?

Abstract

[EN] The manor house of Betxí, currently in the process of recovery, is one of the forgotten jewels of the Valencian Renaissance. Leisure residence of the powerful family of Cardona, admirals of Aragon, it would be remodeled in the mid-sixteenth century by incorporating an unfinished Renaissance courtyard and four small bastions, very damaged nowadays. Curiously, although the plant design is correct, miniature bastions seem to be too low to serve as defense, and it is still unclear their connection to the building. Somehow it recalls the model of the Villa Farnese in Caprarola, where the bastions have lost their function. Therefore the question arises: Are we facing a real fortification or a local reinterpretation of one of the masterpieces of Italian Renaissance architecture?