Crotone 1573: i progetti di Ambrogio Attendolo per il completamento della difesa radente del Castello e della Fortezza

In the two reports (unfortunately missing the two plans mentioned in the text) by Ambrosio Attendolo of 9 May 1573, kept at the Central General Archive of Simancas (Spain), the project for a bastion of the Castle and a low ravelin of the city walls of Crotone is illustrated in detail. These elements complete the two fortifications that have different chronological contexts: the medieval layout of the Castle and the viceregal walls, designed by Gian Giacomo d'Acaja and begun in 1541. The bastion of the Castle, which was later given the name of San Giacomo, is an expression of the most advanced theories of the art of fortification of the time. In fact, it has sides withdrawn starting from the second level and casemates consequently set back and less exposed; along the wall of the two faces, at the base of the bastion, the so-called countermine walkways were created, which served precisely to intercept enemy tunnels aimed at undermining the walls; finally, an escape route towards the sea was built, located on the northern side of the bastion, defended by an effective emergency drawbridge for immediate retreat. The ravelin that Attendolo designed to defend the city walls towards the east has a different layout: low and wide, with two very large faces and a double flank towards the Castle, shaped like an ogee in the first section. Both elements express the best of the defensive building art of integral flanking of the grazing defense, especially in relation to the rest of the Castle and the bastioned front of the fortified citadel. In Attendolo's two reports there is no lack of indications for adapting to the changed military needs of the time and making other elements of the fortifications of the previous era more efficient, such as a section of the medieval wall that surrounded the town and a tower of the Castle, built in 1480-90, an expression of the so-called transitional fortified architecture.