Double appointment this week at the University of the Third Age with the works and architectures built between the 1800s and 1900s by the Military Engineers in the fortress of La Maddalena . Today we talk about "Military Engineers of La Maddalena and the works intended for the defense of Northern Sardinia"; on Friday 24 March, however, the theme of "Military architectures: an extraordinary historical-cultural heritage to protect a context of considerable environmental value" will be explored.
The speaker of the two evenings, today's and next Friday's, which will also be held at 17:30 in the Library of the MM Officers' Club, will be Assunta Maria Pastò , of the Military Engineers of La Maddalena.
After the establishment of the military stronghold, the Italian Government allocated considerable sums for the construction of numerous fortresses, both on the islands of the archipelago and on the facing coast, placed to defend the estuary, or to protect the fleet which had one of its bases here main ones, complete with an arsenal for maintenance and repairs, both ordinary and extraordinary. These fortifications were built primarily against the French , to repel a possible attack.
The fortifications that were built sometimes had an impact on the surrounding environment, changing the landscape forever, sometimes they integrated with it in a sort of symbiosis. Almost all abandoned after the Second World War, these fortresses are now part of the "natural" landscape of the archipelago , which today would be unthinkable without them, constituting a peculiarity by now. Also because, from an architectural point of view, many of them represent a significant and appreciable testimony to the ability of the engineers of the Royal Military Engineers who designed them.
It will be interesting, in the two appointments this week, to hear from the voice of Dr. Pastò, a great connoisseur of these topics, insights into this historical-cultural-environmental heritage, and how to protect it.
