«Montaña con rios caudalosos a la frente, y lados, arroyos, fosos, bosques, lagos y fortalezas». Spunti per un aggiornamento delle conoscenze sul sistema difensivo dei laghi lombardi in epoca spagnola

Abstract

More than forty years have passed since the Lombardy department of the Italian Institute of Castles has studied “The fortified system of lakes in the Lombardy region based on their communication routes” (1974). This research definitively introduced the concepts of “military geography” and “castle studies” (“castellologia” in Italian) in the historiographical debate in Italy. Today, new cartographic and documentary acquisitions, together with updated methodological and disciplinary contributions, necessitate a reinterpretation of the results regarding the lakes of Lombardy. During the entire Spanish age, these real “internal seas” of North Italy represented irreplaceable communication routes and important borders (vary in time) for the dukedom of Milan. For the protection of these borders, there were complex defensive systems which were maintained and integrated, as needed, with the contributions of the principal military engineers of the period. Since the artefacts that made up these systems will be best understood from a strategic point of view, original 3D models of the region support the historiographical analysis.