Italy: Palmanova

From Udine, we also made a quick trip by train to Palmanova UNESCO 2017. Palmanova looks really cool on the map (see first photo below). It's a nine-pointed star fortified city built by the Venetian in the 1600s. I had come across such geometric towns in Italy, probably in Sicily, during previous trip planning, but haven't made it to one yet. With only a 15-minute train ride from Udine, we had to check it out.

Four hundred years after its construction, there are still exactly three gates, 120 degrees apart. The city streets intersect at all different angles. In the center, the Piazza Grande is hexagonal. On the ground, Palmanova is less exciting to visit than it looks on the map, but I had expected that.

Here's a map of the nine-point star fortified city, with 3 concentric pointed defensive walls


Palmanova is a short train from Udine, and the train station is just a few meters from the tip of one of the 9 points. After a short walk, one reaches the Porta Udine gate and, BONUS, a section of a Venetian aqueduct.


There are color coded trails of varying lengths. One follows the moat (below)




Once through the Porta Udine, it was another 5 minutes to the city center, Piazza Grande.




Piazza Grande Map


The day we were in Palmanova they were setting up amusement rides for Oktoberfest events. That's the Duomo Dogale (Left). TEATRO GUSTAVO MODENA is also on the Piazza Grande.






Before catching the train back to Udine, we walked to the viewpoint above the Porta Aquileia Gate (1st below) to get a good look at the fortifications and moat (2nd below).