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The island of Corfù played a decisive role in the overall
strategy in the fortified organisation of the entire Venetian dominion. In both
practice and theory, there emerged a close dependence between the 'cose da
terre' ('things of the land') and 'cose da mare' ('things of the sea'). The
general captain of the Venetian army claimed that in the 1530s, given the
manifest impossibility of providing maximum fortification for every area that
needed defensive structures, it was best to prepare mid-scale assistance in
such cases. It was, however, soon clear that maximum security had to be
provided for two places which were essential fortified focal points: 'which
were convenient for some and like warehouses for the others, which could be
Corfù in the East and Verona in Lombardy'.1 This conception led to
diversifications in the functions, environment, and urban landscape between
Corfù and other centres of the Ionian Islands in the middle of the sixteenth century, in fact,
Cephalonia
nd
Zante
were not considered as important as Corfù in the Venetian
noblemen's eyes. As Concina wrote, this enterprise required continual upgrading
and 'expansion of the city walls, initiated in the fifteenth century, of the
protected burgum around two fortresses of Byzantine and Angevin origin, the
Castel del mare and Castello della Campana'. This enterprise was not completed
until the early eighteenth century.
Footnotes:
1 'li quali fussero comodi a tutto il resto et fussero come magazeni alli
altri, il che poteva essere Corfù in Levante et Verona in Lombardia'
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