Giovan Battista Belluzzi, also known as Il Sanmarino (MS. Ricc. 2587)
In her book titled Il Sanmarino. Giovan Battista Belluzzi, architetto militare e trattatista (Florence: Olschki, 2007), Daniela Lamberini confirms the attribution of this treatise to Giovan Battista Belluzzi (1506-1554). Born in San Marino, Belluzzi was Cosimo I de’ Medici’s first military engineer. In the second volume of her book (pp. 393-449), Lamberini publishes Belluzzi’s treatise and comments on it extensively. The author signed the autograph copy now at the Biblioteca Riccardiana (MS. 2587, addressed to the Medici general Stefano Colonna) as “Bellucci”, thus using the Florentine form of his last name. In this work, Il Sanmarino (as he was nicknamed) discusses above all the first stage in the making of a fortress, that is, the “terraglio” (a foundation made of “earth”, “terra” in Italian, and wood), to which stones and bricks were added at a later stage (thus making it “incamiciato”, as the jargon of the time would say, as if it were covered with a shirt, Italian “camicia”). In his book, the very first of its kind, Belluzzi provides ten most helpful drawings to illustrate each phase in the making of these structures and all related instructions. The text ends with a description of the works made to the bastions and the city walls of Pistoia under Belluzzi’s supervision. These works were completed (both quickly and efficiently, within just a few months) in 1544.
IThis digital facsimile has been realized thanks to the support of
Fondazione San Marino.
