ENGLISH VERSION Daniela Lamberini. Il Sanmarino. Giovan Battista Belluzzi architetto militare e trattatista del Cinquecento. Leo S. Olschki, 2007

Translation by Francesco Mazzaferro

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Daniela Lamberini
Il Sanmarino. Giovan Battista Belluzzi architetto militare e trattatista del Cinquecento [Giovan Battista Belluzzi, called the Sanmarino, as military architect and treatise author of the 16th century].

Giovan Battista Belluzzi. Manoscritto Riccardiano 2587

Leo S. Olschki, 2007
Isbn 978-88-2225660-7

N.B. ABOUT DANIELA LAMBERINI SEE ALSO IN THIS BLOG: Cosimo Bartoli, Edited by Francesco Paolo Fiore e Daniela Lamberini (Part One and Two)  

[1] From the authoress' Preface (p. XI): "The book is divided into two complementary volumes. In the first one [editor's note: entitled La vita e le opere (The life and the works)] the biography of the protagonist is revisited, the architectural production considered, and Sanmarino’s technical-scientific thinking analysed, contextualizing and linking the theory and the practice of his work with the culture and the architectural and engineering practice of his time. The second volume [editor’s note: Gli scritti (Writings)] gathers the edition - or in a few cases - the re-edition - of the entire set of known writings of Belluzzi [editor’s note: this claim is not entirely correct, as we will explain in more detail later]: The Diario (Diary) of youth, the treaties of military architecture and earth fortifications and the corpus of letters documenting in detail his career as principal military architect of the Duke of Florence.” 

[2] Lamberini’s work truly deserves all praise, because she draws again the attention of the public and critics alike to the long forgotten personality of Giovan Battista Belluzzi said the Sanmarino – from his homeland - in the service of Cosimo I de’ Medici in Florence for over a decade, until he tragically died, during the war with Siena in 1554. It is true that the biography of Belluzzi (or Bellucci, as people used to call him in Tuscany, and as he himself began to sign his works) had already been sketched by Vasari in his Lives (in the Giunti edition) together with those of his father in law Girolamo and his brother in law Bartolomeo Genga, but Vasari’s testimony was certainly not sufficient to guarantee over centuries due interest in Sanmarino’s works and writings (which often were subject of plagiarism or had remained unpublished). In fact, Giovan Battista started his architectural activity in a relatively advanced age; an interest for this world can be traced back at the time of Giovan Battista’s second marriage in 1535 with the daughter of the painter and architect Girolamo Genga, born in Pesaro. We know with good precision the details of those years thanks to the Diary written by Belluzzi (which has been conserved to us), a diary covering the period 1535-1541. Previously, Sanmarino had completed his studies in accounting and double-entry bookkeeping and had been initiated in the mercantile art, activities to which Belluzzi owed his rise to the rank of patrician in San Marino. Between 1535 and 1541 - it is clear - Belluzzi continued to engage in commerce (in general, however, with little success). The encounter with Gerolamo was decisive, for two reasons. First, Gerolamo allowed him to enter into the court of the Dukes of Urbino and to begin a particularly useful diplomatic activity there for the small world of San Marino. Second, the father in law introduced him in the yard administration in Pesaro, where he was engaged (in particular in the Pesaro complex of the Imperial villa). But if on the one hand Giovan Battista’s knowledge of accounting allowed a better grip on accounts, on the other one such a "large and complex building ... became for the young superintendent an extraordinary field to ‘learn by doing’ architecture. The engineering techniques applied to the Imperial implied a similar knowledge to what is necessary to the military architect; moreover, the specific functions as administrator forced him to follow all the phases of a complex building construction. In fact, Belluzzi was required to take care not only of account administration, but also of work organization, overseeing together with the architect the selection of materials and coordinating times and ways of construction, from procurement and installation of raw materials, until the final calibration of performed work" (p. 33). Then came years of practical training and theoretical study (it is beyond doubt that Belluzzi read Vitruvius), in which the Sanmarino applied himself with particular interest to the new rules of military architecture, imposed by the systematic use of artillery in war and based on the use of the bastioned front. "The military architecture of the sixteenth century founded the planning of bastioned fronts on the design and scientific rigor of mathematical calculation; equally, it leveraged for the execution on an impeccable, militaristic organization of the construction site; all these were competences which our aspiring builder had particularly developed. This discipline ... could not fail to attract a rational, passionate, ambitious and up to date spirit like it was the gentleman from San Marino" (p. 36). And yet, until 1543, Belluzzi continued nevertheless to deal with mercantile and diplomatic activities for his small homeland. 

[3] 1543, as we said, was the year of change. In Florence, Cosimo I de’ Medici had initiated since 1537 a series of reforms aimed at strengthening the duchy in political, administrative and military terms. An integral part of these reforms was the comprehensive renewal and strengthening of State fortifications. In July 1543 Belluzzi went to Florence in a diplomatic mission on behalf of his small republic; the mission ended with a success, but also with a dramatic turn of events. Cosimo hired Belluzzi as a military architect (to be more precise, as principal military engineer) of the Duchy. It may seem like a precipitous decision. If it indeed was, Cosimo proved to be right. Faced with the need to restructure and modernise the fortresses in the duchy, to reduce costs (by respecting as long as much as possible existing structures) and to act quickly, Belluzzi (from now on called Bellucci by the Florentines or simply Sanmarino) turned out to be the right person, being able to finally apply the know-how acquired in the areas of Pesaro and Urbino (which, in turn, had benefited of military architecture developments by the Venetians). In a few years only Belluzzi, "revolutionizing the traditional methods used on construction sites – both those just opened and still to be opened – was able to secure the State with speed and competence, applying the rules of the bastioned front with rigor and impartiality [editor’s note: for those dictates see in particular p. 297-302 ]. Where necessary, he proved able to show due respect for existing structures and constraints. However, he also had no qualms over resorting to heavy-handed action and even the guasto [editor’s note: the destruction and removal of pre-existing urban areas], where the strategic needs (and especially the will of the Prince) so required, all without exorbitant demands on the economic level, nor pretensions of grandeur for the aesthetics and the ornate of its fortifications" (pp. 50-51). Sanmarino’s activity was hectic and is well documented by the analytical examination of the documents proposed with extreme precision by Lamberini (even on least fortunate occasions, like that of Portoferraio). Only the dramatic disappearance of Belluzzi, hit by a harquebus during the siege of Siena, on March 22, 1554, put an end to it. 

[4] This collection is mainly characterized as a gathering of history of art sources; it is clear that Belluzzi’s writings assume special importance in this context. Vasari himself recalls that the Sanmarino had prepared an "operetta (small treaty) on how to fortify". In fact, "in a letter to his ambassador to the Holy Seat on December 29, 1550, we learn that Cosimo I commissioned Sanmarino with the drafting of a treaty on fortifications. He explicitly requested to include "the plants of the cities that are strong by today, so in Italy as well as in other parts of the world" (p. 125). Following the presentation by the authoress, we will discuss the Treaty later. "The drawings of cities and forts ordered by Duke Cosimo I to Belluzzi have been conserved until today; they are bound in a folio album in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence, marked Fondo nazionale II.I.280. This album was studied and newly attributed to Belluzzi in 1988. For the first time we are publishing the edition of the sixty-two tables." The authoress believes that the maps have been drawn between 1549-50 and 1551-52; it is clear that the work has actually never been completed. Most likely Sanmarino was forced to suspend it, due to the urgency of the war against Siena. His death definitely prevented any completion. The authoress identifies two distinct groups among the sixty-two maps: on one hand the fortified towns of the Duchy of Florence, on the other one plants of other cities that do not belong to the lands ruled by Cosimo. The distinction is important, because the second group appears to provide chronologically less updated data than the first one, and may be the result of copies from drawings of other hand. "Belluzzi uses colours to highlight differences between the old and the new, a technique widely adopted in the sixteenth century to the designs of military architecture, especially by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, well-known and appreciated by Sanmarino. In fact, are coloured in red ancient encircled cities, fortresses from Middle Age and Early Renaissance and the various pre-existing (and already well established) defence structures from 1400 and 1500. Fully new interventions – as well as those in way of execution - are designed in yellow (or cyclamen)... All these actions put dramatically into evidence how radically and forcefully revolutionary was the impact which the bastioned front had in the sixteenth-century on the shape and the urban fabric of towns which had already consolidated their structures since centuries"(p.130). 

[5] As already mentioned, the main project at which the Sanmarino worked in the (few) spare moments was the drafting of a great treatise on fortifications. Today, three different types of documents provide evidence of that project (which never came to full completion (see p . 288): 

1. a manuscript preserved at the Oliveriana Library in Pesaro, marked as Ms. oliveriano 196, and titled Trattato delle fortificazioni / di Giambattista Belluzzi / Patrizio Pesarese e di San Marino (Treaty on fortifications /by Giambattista Belluzzi / patrician in Pesaro and San Marino). This is a sixteenth-century multi-hand copy of the draft treaty prepared by Belluzzi in its most extended version;
2. a treatise on fortification , which is a core of the above mentioned wider text at the Oliveriana Library. The treaty is witnessed by two manuscripts (an original draft which is located in the archives of the town of Anghiari (marked ms. 1624 ) and a copy found at the State Archives of Turin (code Z.II.24 ) ) ;
3. a treatise on fortifications of earth, written around 1545, which is a further compendium (or "restricted" version) with respect to the type B just mentioned and which is preserved at the Riccardiana Library in Florence ( marked Riccardiano 2587) .

It should be made clear now that the second volume does not include the issue of the Treaty from the Oliveriana Library (Type A). In this sense the authoress' statement contained in the Preamble (i.e., the introductory statement that the present work includes the complete edition of Belluzzi’s writings) is not entirely correct. Nevertheless, the most significant parts of the Treaty in its largest version are present and even treated in a more analytical tone in versions B) and C). We are referring to the relevant sub-tabs for more details. Here we would like instead to quote some excerpts from Lamberini on the "stretched" version of the Treaty. The manuscript (this is an exemplary from sixteenth century in which we distinguish the hands of at least four distinct copyists ) "consists of fifty chapters that were supposed to be structured in at least four books, but are poorly connected to each other; some are simple sketches of study, while the last chapters ... are repeated twice in error"(p. 289). The structure of the original work involved, after an introductory section, a section on the techniques of attack (the "offese" - offences), followed by other pages that illustrated defensive techniques. "Here ... Belluzzi addresses the issue that involved him more: the problem of the defence of the sites in relation to the restoration of the ancient walls. It does this by describing (with great expertise and knowledge of the facts) and classifying (on the basis of their geo- morphological peculiarities) those Italian cities which were strong by nature or art. Therefore he divides the sites into categories, including those of "water" and those of "the earth," or between cities made strong by sea, lakes, swamps or rivers, and those built on very high mountains or lower ones, up to the hills, plains and valleys " (pp. 290-291 ). It is evident the correspondence between the list of cities in question and the plants designed by Belluzzi and kept at the National Central Library of Florence (see above), although it is not entirely obvious to assume that the maps should necessarily be published in the Treaty (maps, even more so if well traced, had such a military valence that was not the case to make them known to potential enemies). Anyway, Lamberini on several occasions places side on side the analysis of the map and the description of the city, contained in the Oliveriano manuscript. The middle section of the Treaty deals with the forts in their own right (issue largely reproduced in the writings of type B). "After the explanation of the ballistic reasons for the transition from round towers to the modern angular bastion Belluzzi does follow the analysis of the 'sides', dealing extensively one by one on the figures of modern bastioned fronts. Bulwark, platform, knights , scissors , teeth, stars and casemates are explained in detail in relation to the orography of the site ... In these pages, it is clear that the interest of the treatise is addressed more to the alterations of the ancient wall, to comply with the canons of modern fortification, rather than tracking of ideal plants and geometric models of cities and fortresses. The ultimate goal in any case is always to intervene “thinking big”, "royal", that is, building spacious ramparts featuring large squares for the artillery ... A true royal fort ... must be defended by truly royal artillery, i.e. weapons that pull iron balls with a weight from eight pounds up "(pp. 292-293) . Belluzzi calls, as far as possible to achieve truly “royal” fortifications, using smaller ones only in case of necessity. Finally, "in the final part of the Treaty of the Oliveriana Library, where the author devotes a long chapter on the fortifications of earth, Sanmarino is facing the problem of the construction site. By indicating time and manner for the selection of construction materials and workers, his firm character, moral qualities and the technical and organizational capacities of the engineer emerge. These qualities had favoured his professional ascent in the shade of Tuscany’s Cosimo de ' Medici "(p. 293). On the meaning of "fortifications of the earth" refer to the notes on the narrow text of the Riccardiana Library. 

[6] It remains to deal with the (not simple) problem of the fortune of the Treaties, especially of plagiarism and reinterpretation attempts. Those attempts, while helping to spread the precepts of Sanmarino, finished giving to others the merits about their introduction, making them forget or belittle the name of Belluzzi. It is known fact that, at the death of Sanmarino, his manuscripts passed into the hands of the only pupil he had, Bernardo Puccini (1521-1575), his successor in the Medici’s organogram as well as principal engineer of Cosimo Medici. Puccini's task was to finally get to publish a treatise on fortifications that made full honour to the memory of Belluzzi (and invalidate the attempts of plagiarism by third parties). In reality, even Puccini did not succeed in the enterprise, on the one hand pressed by operational commitments at the service of the Medici, on the other one probably showing more attention to other streams of study over the years. Bernardo was only able to produce yet another "restricted" treaty on fortifications in manuscript form (we are in 1558), while leaving unfinished the broader treaty due to his sudden death (history repeats itself here), which caught him while he was working at the fortifications of Portoferraio in 1575. Puccini’s manuscripts, not devoid of personal contributions, were not unknown and became the subject of plagiarism by many engineers and architects. There is therefore a first line of plagiarism on Belluzzi’s work that passes through the mediation of Puccini’s work. In this regard, see PP. 309-313 and especially Daniela Lamberini, Il principe difeso. Vita e opere di Bernardo Puccini (Defending the Prince. Life and Work of Bernardo Puccini. 

It is to be noted that, if Belluzzi’s manuscripts passed to Puccini, they probably were not the only copy produced from Sanmarino (it is more logical to think about manuscripts prepared at different stages and reflecting different levels of progress). A copy (very incorrect) of the Treaty of fortifications in the type B) came into the hands of Tommaso Baglioni from Bergamo, in 1598, that half a century after the original had been drafted, published it in Venice. The editorial operation of the Baglioni was certainly not the most fortunate, starting with the long title (Nuova inventione di fabricar fortezze di varie forme, in qualunque sito di piano, di monte, in acqua, con diversi disegni, et un trattato del modo, che si hà da osservare in esse, con le sue misure, et ordine di levar le piante, tanto in fortezze reali, quanto non reali) (New invention of building up fortresses of various shapes, in any site plan of mountains, in water, with different designs , and a treaty on the way, that can be observed in them, with their measures, and order to lift their plants , both in the royal forts, and not royal ones). Mistakes continued with the misspelling of the name of the author in Giovan Battista Belici and especially the inexcusable insertion - without any warning - within Belluzzi’s work, of the writing of another author, an anonymous substantially contemporaneous with the Sanmarino, who had taken quite inconsistent views with Belluzzi’s text. Lamberini believes that he could have been Giovan Tommaso Scala, a Venetian mercenary from Mid sixteenth century. In short, this was really a big mess. It led first may readers to believe that Belici cannot be Belluzzi; then, readers found out Sanmarino travelling in foreign countries which he had never visited and wrongly attributed him military experiences, which were equally foreign to him. Only from the mid nineteenth century it started to be understood that in fact Baglioni’s publication was the arbitrary fusion of the writings of two different authors. However, this discovery has not yet fully acquired if even Schlosser (one scholar who was very attentive to such things) fails recalling the circumstance at the time of quoting the work in his Letteratura artistica (p. 424). It must be finally recalled that an original of the Treaty (always of type B) landed among the papers of Cavalier Girolamo Magi (better known as Maggi). It was just the copy preserved in the historic archive of the Municipality of Anghiari (see above). Certainly Maggi used it to draft his Della fortificazione della città (On the fortification of a town), published in Venice in 1564 (and written together with Castriotto). Of course, even the restricted version on the fortifications of earth (type C) was not devoid of more or less evident plagiarism. The most successful one was that of Giacomo Lanteri from Brescia and his treatise Duo libri del modo di fare le fortificazioni di terra (Two books on how to make the fortifications of earth), published in Venice in 1559. The first book is, in fact, nothing else but a window dressing of the work of Belluzzi. Less fortunate (because it did not come to accomplishment) was the plagiarism of Francesco De Marchi from Bologna, (see vol II. pp. 399-401) who copied the restricted treaty on fortifications and placed it (on his own behalf) in a manuscript which was eventually not published. It is to be remembered that the De Marchi came into possession also of the 62 plants designed by Belluzzi (see above) and had no scruples including them in his collection of cities and fortresses as a work of his own hand (p. 127).