Torri e piazzeforti nella Sardegna moderna. Fonti cartografiche e documentarie nella lettura delle trasformazioni territoriali del paesaggio costiero sardo tra XVI e XVIII secolo

In early modern, military engineers and architects of the Crown of Spain were engaged in the preparation of new fortifications systems to defend Mediterranean cities and coasts of raids from North. During the sixteenth century, the coastal landscape of the western Mediterranean underwent a profound change: major and minor cities were equipped with defensive walls and bastions; also around the coastal perimeter was built a system of circular watchtowers. The Kingdom of Sardinia, though with delay, was equipped with powerful defensive devices. Their phases of planning and realization can be partially reconstructed through working notes, reports, design drawings, maps and other important documents kept in the major European archives. The cartographic evidence on Sardinia - made from the second half of the sixteenth century to the beginning of the eighteenth century - record in some cases the presence of coastal towers existing and planned, offering interesting data.