Cittadella historical timeline

Origins

Cittadella was founded in 1220 by the commune of Padua, on open ground, as a direct military answer to Castelfranco -- the fortress Treviso had built a few years earlier some 15 km away. It is a planned town in the most literal sense.

Turning points

Ezzelino III da Romano, the most feared figure in the thirteenth-century Veneto, took the town and used the Torre di Malta at Porta Padova as a prison. Its reputation reached Dante, who named it in Paradiso.

Influential people

After Ezzelino's fall the town passed to the Carraresi of Padua, and then in 1405 to Venice, where it remained until 1797.

Cultural evolution

Under Venice the walls lost military relevance -- the Republic's defences were elsewhere -- and were simply left. That neglect is the reason they survive intact while comparable circuits elsewhere were demolished for building material or to let towns expand.

Present-day significance

A long restoration of the rampart walkway was completed in 2013, opening the full circuit to the public for the first time in centuries.