When Venice had merlons: crenellated-walls as memories of the former fortified city

Despite few remains of the former fortified city are still surviving in Venice, the character has been conveyed throughout time by toponomy and by several crenellated-walls enclosing either monasteries and palaces, fondaci or gardens. Except for the Arsenale, certainly these artifacts aren’t military battlements but Venice is so rich in merlons, ranging from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, that they can be regarded as distinctive features of the city, shaping a main part of its image. Hence a necessary attention is due, first of all by cataloguing the shapes, building systems and changes of the different crenellations, revealing their transformations over time. Recognizing and savaging the oldest remains, having often been incorporated in more recent buildings, is worth an effort and stratigraphy can help in detecting their traces. Either when they act as symbolic decorations of monumental sites, like in Palazzo Ducale, or when they crenel humble garden fence-walls even, their strong historic, cultural and evocative role deserves a proper approach and preservation.