Trace Italienne: Renaissance Word of the Week

An alternate term for bastion forts or star forts, which became widespread in the sixteenth century. Its angular, star-shaped walls were designed in response to the evolution of canon and gunfire.

The French term may be translated as the “Italian layout” or lines and saw popular use after the French wars in Italy in the early-mid 1500s.

The layouts of these forts began simply: with sets of defendable bastions at the points of star-shaped, angular layouts. But as advances in artillery and siegecraft continued through the early, these “Italian” style fortresses grew ever more complex, with additional bastions, ditches, and walls.