2 - UNESCO: World Heritage

DESCRIPTION
Middle-Byzantine and Angevin town
Although we know little about Byzantine fortifications, the historical sources reveal that Byzantines, and later
on, the Despots of Epirus and the Angevins fortified the acropolis and its peaks, by constructing two towers
(Castrum Veter or Castel da Mare or simply Vecchio and Castrum Novum or Castel da terra or simply Nuovo).
The medieval settlement did not differ from typical fortified little towns of the time, with the typical morphological
features of thin walls with ramparts interrupted by tall square and circular towers.
For a view of the Medieval Town and its fortifications of that period see drawings 1& 2 of Exhibit 20.
The Venetian Period
This period is without doubt the most important for the town's development, due to its duration (411 years), but
also to the historical conditions. The town was expanded outside the Fortress (borgo), to the extent that it
gradually replaced the town of the Fortress, thus limiting its function for defence purposes only. Its
development was essentially influenced and defined by the successive fortification works, carried out on the
basis of a specific programme, so as to cover the various defence needs, as differentiated throughout history.
♦ Development of the fortifications
The fortification works, in addition to their significance for the town's development, constitute outstanding
examples of architecture and technique of that time. The Venetian Republic contracted the construction to
some of the most important and well-known architects and engineers.
Old Fortress
The Venetian defence policy, during the first 200 years approximately, was limited to the restructuring of the
defence system of the already fortified medieval town, while, the settlement of "Xopoliou" (borgo) existed in
parallel, which was densely landscaped and developed following the end of the Byzantine period.
The Venetian works during the 15 th century refer to the separation of the small peninsula from the remaining
island with a sea moat, Contrafossa, and to the radical changes of the previous fortification, which was
useless as a means of confronting artillery. More specifically, new, low fortified walls were built, surrounding, on
the one hand, the coast at the lower level, and on the other hand, the two peaks at the higher level (levelled
and replaced by new forts on the same place). Parallel to this, an artificial port was constructed in Mandraki.
The 15 th century fortifications are shown in drawings 3 and 4 of Exhibit 20.
However, the evolution of war tactics, at the beginning of the 16 th century, led to the modernisation of the
facade of the western side, opposite the Contrafossa. The project was carried out by M. Sanmicheli, a
recognized architect and theorist of the new defence system of salients, presenting the advantage of sideprotection,
thus allowing the guns to fire in parallel to the wall. A new defence facade was constructed in front
of Contrafossa with two identical pentagonal ramparts (Savorgnan and Martinengo), while an impressive
entrance was opened in the intermediate wall (cortina) in the centre. Access to the land was by a wooden
drawbridge. Furthermore, the free area of the “Spianata” was expanded between “borgo” and the fort, while its
limits were more precisely defined. The works were completed in 1558 and gave the Fortress the final imposing
The Old Town of Corfu Nomination for inclusion on the World Heritage List 34
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