Ardeatine Bastion

The Ardeatine Bastion, which bolstered the city’s defence system during the Renaissance, replaced the walls for a length of approximately 400 m, entailed the removal of the Aurelian fortification, the demolition of 8 towers and the destruction of the Porta Ardeatina gates. The works, commissioned in 1537 by Pope Paul III Farnese to Antonio di Sangallo the Younger, were prompted by the need to strengthen the city walls in view of a serious Turkish threat from the sea after the landing of the Saracen fleet in Apulia. The Bastion is one of the most significant works of military architecture of the 16th century, despite its incompleteness. To adapt to the new weapons, scarp walls, mixtilinear and angled bastions were required to control all sides. Sangallo identified the Aventine as the first target of a possible attack from the sea, and one of three strategic points to work on. The huge economic burden, realised with the proceeds of the tax on flour, forced the project to be abandoned as early as 1542, which inevitably led to the gradual ruin of the infrastructure.