B. Lorini - fortificationi (ARCHITECTURE) - 1609

Buonaiuto Lorini, The Fortifications (Venice, 1609)

The author: Buonaiuto Lorini (c. 1540 – after 1611)
Florentine military engineer, trained in an environment deeply marked by the Italian Wars (1494–1559), which made the urgency of innovating defensive techniques evident.
He served the Republic of Venice, one of Italy's most advanced states in the field of military technology, and participated in shipyards and military enterprises mainly in the Veneto region and the Mediterranean.
Member of that generation of engineers who transformed the discipline from an empirical art to an applied science, influenced by mathematics, geometry, and technical drawing.

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Historical Context
Fine XVI – early XVII century: a period during which the so-called 'modern fortification' or 'Italian trace' became prominent throughout Europe, developed as a response to fire artillery.
European cities and ports were defended with angled bastions, earthworks, and crossfire systems, replacing the now obsolete vertical medieval walls.
Venice, a maritime and commercial power, had a vital interest in perfecting its defensive works, both along the Adriatic and in overseas possessions.
Military engineering works were not just technical manuals but tools of political prestige and dissemination of scientific knowledge, intended for nobles, princes, and captains as well as engineers.

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The Opera
Full Title (1609): On the fortifications of Buonaiuto Lorini, Florentine engineer, in five books, in which the rule and the art of fortifying every kind of fortress are clearly and easily demonstrated, including defenses, contraminas, and artillery: with a declaration of measures and ancient and modern military orders. With copper engravings and figures.
Venetian edition of 1609: the most well-known and widespread, richly illustrated with etching plates that combine text and image in an extremely modern technical communication system.
Structured in five books, it deals with:
General principles of fortification.
2. Types of squares (cities, ports, castles).
Attack and defense techniques, countermeasures, and artillery.
Issues of measurement and geometric proportionality
5. Military orders, ancient and modern, and their application to the present.

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Meaning and Impact
• Codification of the “modern fortification”: Lorini contributes to establishing the geometric rules of the new Italian military science, making them understandable and transmissible through an organized and educational work.
A prestigious European work: the book, written in Italian vernacular rather than Latin, was intended to circulate not only among scholars but also among captains and patricians, becoming a practical and political manual.
Influence on subsequent treatises: The fortifications are part of the line of major military engineering treatises (from Francesco di Giorgio Martini to Scamozzi, up to Vauban in France), helping to spread the 'Italian school' of fortification across Europe.
Visual tool: engravings were decisive in the dissemination of the model of the bastioned fortified city, providing engineers and rulers with a tangible reference tool.
• Historical value: the work documents not only the theory of fortification but also the cultural climate of Italy, which, despite being politically fragmented, remained at the center of the scientific-military revolution of the seventeenth century.

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Conclusion

The Venetian edition of 1609 of Buonaiuto Lorini's 'Le fortificationi' is a milestone in European military treatise. It encapsulates the transition from the empirical art of Renaissance military engineers to a science of fortification, based on geometry, proportion, and the rational use of urban and territorial space.
His influence extended well beyond Italian borders, helping to shape the military-technical culture that would dominate the 17th and 18th centuries, up to the Vauban-era and the standardization of modern fortresses.

Collation and state of preservation.
Excellent state of preservation despite significant effects of humidity, but overall a very beautiful copy. Collation: 13 pages unnumbered, 303 pages numbered but with an incorrect number at 299 because pages 57-60 were not printed like all the other copies. This is a numbering error that dates back to all copies and not just this one.

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