Nuovi documenti per la conoscenza delle fortezze delle isole di Candia e Cipro (XVI sec.)

The islands of Candia and Cyprus were key territories of the Venetian Stato da Mar for centuries. Starting from the middle of the sixteenth century, to counter the ever-closer Ottoman threat, in both islands Venice implemented a deep renewal of the defensive system thanks to the contribution of military engineers sent from Venice. After the loss of Cyprus in 1571, Candia became an advanced bulwark against the Ottomans, therefore works on the fortifications intensified and lasted until the seventeenth century. Behind the actual building activity there was an intense work of census, drawing, and survey that comes to light in a fragmentary way from official reports, correspondence, and iconographic sources. This paper intends to focus on the state of the islands’ urban and rural defences during the crucial period of the second half of the sixteenth century by considering two unpublished documents from the Archivio proprio di Giacomo Contarini kept at the Archivio di Stato of Venice: it is about a list of the fortresses of Candia by Soffiano Eudemonogiani, and the so-called “Avertimenti circa il fortificare” dealing with the fortresses of Cyprus and Candia. Both documents testify to the interest and concern of the Venetian government for its eastern Mediterranean fortresses in view of an Ottoman assault.