I love love love love love an ideal city so—duh!—I went to Palmanovo while I was in northeast Italy.
The best way to understand the layout of Palmanova would be from above. Here’s the next best way: a map.
Why this shape? Apparently, back in 1593, folks in this area were pretty concerned about invasion by Habsburgs and Turks so they designed this city as a fortress with three layers of defense.
The nine-sided defensive walls are still intact (my bus drove through one one of them). At the center of the fortress, streets radiate out from a piazza.
I stood in the center of the piazza and spun to make this video. Even on a summer day on a weekend afternoon, there wasn’t much going on in the town.
The church has a stubby tower (so it couldn’t be shot down from outside the walls). Normally, the piazza in an ideal city is all about centering civic life, so you wouldn’t necessarily have a church, though—when seen in the context of the the huge scale of the piazza—it isn’t given a lot of emphasis.
Palmanova is a UNESCO site and it has a tourist information office…but other than that, the town itself is the attraction and there’s not really anything to do, outside of watching a tired video next door to the TI. I asked at the tourist office where I could find a public bathroom, which I hoped to visit before getting back on the bus and they me they told me there isn’t one. So I bought a hazelnut gelato from a cranky lady at nearby shop to get access to the toilet there.
Sorry, Palmanova, you can’t call yourself ideal if you make it hard for me to pee.
How I got to Palmanova: day trip from Udine by bus.
Where I slept: Mercatovecchio. Price: €170 for a room with a kitchenette. Recommended: yes
Picnic at the Cathedral 
We spent a morning in Palmanova in June. We walked out to the ramparts. Overall, the group felt underwhelmed. Luckily our guide arranged access to restrooms on the square though I dont remember where.
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Oh, it was probably really helpful to walk out on the ramparts—glad your group could do it. The heatwave was kicking in that day and I couldn’t face the idea of a walk in the direct sun.
I’m glad I went to Palmanova, but would recommend the town make more of an effort to contextualize. For example, showing Palmanova in relation to other, similar fortified cities (there a few extant). I’d love to have idea of what it would have been like to live here in the early 1600’s–like practical things—how did they get food? Seem like, other than feeling safe, it would be a kind of isolating and weird place to live.
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The lack of a public loo is to dissuade Turks and Habsburgs from besieging and entering, a genius strategic move to make it pointless to take over a place with no conveniences. I’m guessing the gates were too narrow to squeeze a wooden horse through as well? 😁
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Clearly an effective strategy—the place is still standing after 400 years, not a Habsburg in sight. 🙂
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