The ideal city of Livorno: An example of the Italian Modern Military Architecture

Buontalenti designed a fortified city, shaped like an irregular pentagon, with its vertexes represented by four new bastions and the “Fortezza Vecchia". The project, started in 1577, was never completed; however, it marked the beginning of the fortress history, which was developed from the previous bastion “San Francesco”, initially the vertex of the ideal city and later the only fortified element. The project proposal for its restoration aims to reestablish the link between the fortress and the city, which was broken after many years of decay and inaccessibility. The proposal has been based on the overall knowledge of the architectural context, on a detailed survey, on an accurate analysis of its history and evolution, and finally on the study of similar projects. Such proposal has the objective to reinsert the fortress into the urban pattern from both a cultural and an urban point of view.