lunedì 17 dicembre 2018




 
The Bastion of the Islands
The bastion of the islands was planned by the military engineer Pietro Antonio Tomasello. Its construction was assigned, in April 1529, to the master-builder Carlo Florio, with 9 skilled workers and 22 labourers. A further 24 labourers were also involved in the preliminary excavations for the construction of the foundations that were completed by October 1529.
This bastion includes an entrance portico and 4 large areas, of which only 3 are currently accessible. Beyond the portico, built subsequently to the bastion, a ramp of stone steps leads into the first area where there are the remains of a cannon emplacement and a stone fountain fed from a cistern that can be seen from the terraces of the bastion.
A small opening beside the fountain leads into the second area with a robust barrel vault ceiling, strong enough to take the weight of the artillery positioned on the terraces above. Other cannons would have fired from the 3 lower cannon emplacements in this second area, the walls of which were reinforced with 3 long steps used to block enemy cannon fire. These 3 cannon emplacements were walled up a few decades ago but it is possible to observe them from the interior of the bastion through 5 apertures. One aperture in the centre of the barrel vault ceiling provided illumination and at one time also served as a vent for the release of smoke produced by cannon fire. An iron gate opens onto a steep stone staircase that leads down to the dark, gloomy tunnel within the foundations of the bastion.
A visit to the bastion, which was completed in around 1537, ends in a third large room, which, until restoration work carried out in 2010, was entirely full of earth. A walled arch hides a fourth and final area, which is still full of earth and that contains a further cannon emplacement.


 
Exterior of the Bastion of the Islands 
 
The portico leading into the interior


 







Within the foundations of the bastion a long, dark tunnel (“contromina”, countermine) used to defend the bastion from the enemy using underground tunnels (known as “mines”). Ducts known as catùsi opened from the ceiling of the tunnel. Asphyxiating substances would be poured into these ducts onto the enemy if they had managed to break into the tunnel.