Ottagono San Pietro
| Ottagono San Pietro | ||
|---|---|---|
| Waters | Venice lagoon | |
| Geographical location | 45 ° 19 '57.6 " N , 12 ° 18' 22.7" E | |
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| surface | 0.332 6 ha | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
Ottagono San Pietro is a small fortress island in the Venice lagoon in front of Malamocco . The island has an area of 3,326 m² (according to the municipality only 3,094) and is surrounded by a fortress wall. The cannons stationed there guarded the entrance to Malamocco.
history
In view of the military conflicts with the Ottomans , which culminated in the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571 , the Senate of the Republic of Venice decided to militarily secure the entrances to the lagoon. For this purpose, a number of octagonal fortresses (ottagoni) should be built. The cannons on the fortress island of Ottagono San Pietro had the task of shooting at any intruders into the lagoon who had managed to break through the fortified passage of Malamocco . It is unclear whether existing fortresses were reinforced at this time or whether they were completely rebuilt.
During the war for the Cretan Candia , which occupied Venice from 1646 to 1669, the island was fortified even more. After that, however, the Ottagoni were neglected until renewed modernizations took place from 1726.
As part of the renewed adaptation of the island to the military needs of the Austrians who ruled Venice from 1815 to 1866 , corridors and galleries were added within the walls from 1850 after the defeat of the Repubblica di Venezia ; Casemates were built and new and more cannons were erected. The three of the eight sides of the fortress facing the entrance to Malamocco were particularly well fortified.
After the fortresses no longer corresponded in any way to the changed political and military conditions, they were abandoned in the 1960s and 70s. The state of preservation of the facilities is extremely poor today.
Web links
- Ottagono San Pietro, website of the Comune di Venezia ( Memento of September 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), archive.org, September 19, 2009
Remarks
- ↑ Venice Islands ( memento of March 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ).