Here’s a recent video we did at a medieval festival in Aulla. It starts with some battle practice and ends with a cannon firing. It’s the first time I’ve seen them set off one of these beasts. Usually they just sit there beside the town’s castle, rusting away. (And yes, I flinched when it went off. People laughed at themselves and their reactions, just like they do in a theater when a gun goes off. Odd, isn’t it?)
The cannon’s emergence as a weapon changed not only warfare but castle architecture. Instead of tall castles with flat walls that were ideal targets, castle designers went for deflection of the cannonballs, building low castles with rounded corners, like the Fortezza di Sarzanello near Sarzana:
Instead of this one, Castello di Vigoleno built for the Visconti di Piacenza:
Read more about the fabulous Vigoleno Castle.
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