Renaissance Walls — The Fortress That Became Lucca’s Park
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Transcript
Lucca’s famous walls were built for gunpowder warfare. Thick earth-backed ramparts and angular bastions were designed to absorb cannon fire and cover approaches with defensive fire.
The republic spent heavily because independence depended on credible defence. Yet the walls were never subjected to the kind of great siege they were built to withstand, which helped preserve them.
In the nineteenth century the obsolete fortifications became a public promenade and park. That conversion is Lucca in miniature: Roman streets became medieval routes, an amphitheatre became housing and a fortress became civic recreation. The city survives by changing what old structures are for.