Category: Modern

One of the great problems for armies in the medieval and modern eras was where to house the troops. Normally, they were housed in the town’s houses, whose owners, furthermore, often also had to feed them, a fact that was a source of constant problems. That is why in the 16^th  century, the construction of barracks for the garrison was a demand  by both the military authorities and the town’s inhabitants. These were completed in 1598 and 1599, following a project carried out decades earlier by the engineer Jacobo Fratin.

These are two identical buildings, constructed near the embankments of the fortress’s eastern wall. The engineers  recommended this placement  to facilitate rapid troop  access  to the walls. They are rectangular buildings, three stories high with a double-pitched roof. The staircase was located in the central part of the building, while an exterior corridor provided  access to the rooms, which were arranged in a double row. All the quarters  were identical  and had a hearth, which served to provide warmth, but also for cooking. Each barrack  had thirty-six rooms with a capacity for about five hundred soldiers.

Minor works were subsequently carried out, such as the addition of rooms at one end, probably  used as a kitchen.