I Torresini da Polvere di Bergamo : prospettive di conoscenza conservazione e valorizzazione

The invention of black powder and the use of firearms mark this crucial juncture in the history of the transition between the Middle Ages and modern times. The Venetian Republic soon realized the strategic role of the new invention. The Arsenal of Venice was among the oldest factories of the powerful mixture whose production was under the direct control of the Council of Ten, the supreme authority of the Serenissima. The storage took place inside small unusual and curious buildings, characterized by a particular pyramid roof; their perfect geometry, highlighted by the simplicity of the volumes, testifies to that rigor that never fails in military architecture, not even in small subsidiary deposits where it would have been possible to indulge in ornamental digressions. This essay, within a broader study of documentation and cataloging of the few surviving testimonies, focuses on the surviving exemples in Bergamo (the upper Torresino of via Beltrami and the lower Torresino of San Marco), to highlight its peculiarities and present current activities aimed at their conservation and enhancement.