![\"Codex](\"https:\/\/static.ferrovial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/13142443\/ciudad-leonardo-codex.jpg\")
A page from the Codex Atlanticus, a 12-volume collection with drawings and writings by Da Vinci.<\/p><\/div>\n
From lazzaretto<\/em> to the citt\u00e1 ideale<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\nThroughout the 15th century, the city of Milan was obsessed with a project (though it didn\u2019t come true until the end of the century). They wanted to build a building where they could quarantine the sick. The Renaissance blossomed, but the Italian city continued to suffer from outbreaks of the plague. In 1485 alone, more than 100,000 people died.<\/a><\/p>\nThis lazzaretto, <\/em>a common building for quarantining contagious patients, has to be well ventilated and have sanitary measures in place, such as one latrine per person. Moreover, it would be cut off from the rest of the city by a moat. Its construction began in 1488 and would last for more than 20 years. Even today, it is remembered with the via<\/em> lazzaretto<\/em> in the heart of the Lombard capital.<\/p>\nHowever, the impact of the plague of 1485 drove not only this project. Renaissance Italy had regained urbanism for the West. The chaotic, unhealthy cities of the Middle Ages had to be addressed. Construction projects such as Pienza (today a UNESCO heritage site)<\/a> pursued the concept of citt\u00e1 ideale<\/em>.<\/em> Not necessarily a beautiful city, but an efficient, clean, well-organized one. All of this served as inspiration for Leonardo da Vinci.<\/p>\n![\"Ideal](\"https:\/\/static.ferrovial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/10\/13142446\/ciudad-leonardo-ideal.jpg\")
Ideal city prototype during the Renaissance.<\/p><\/div>\n
The ideals of the Renaissance city<\/strong><\/h2>\n“Leonardo wanted a comfortable and spacious city, with well-ordered streets and architecture. He recommended \u201chigh, strong walls\u201d, with \u201ctowers and battlements of all necessary and pleasant beauty\u201d, and felt the place needed \u201cthe sublimity and magnificence of a holy temple\u201d,” Alessandro Melis, Head Lecturer on Sustainable Cities from Portsmouth University, notes in this article.<\/a> A city that should, from the start, fulfill Renaissance ideals \u2013 and not just those.<\/p>\nThe ideal Renaissance city was based on \u2013 what else? \u2013 the precepts of classical architecture and urbanism.<\/a> Inspired by Rome and Greece, Renaissance architects noted the importance of choosing a healthy place, the city\u2019s design for withstanding nature (anything from animal attacks to storms), building spacious places for public activities, efficient organization, and more.<\/p>\nIn short, a modern, rational city. A big investment was needed to make it possible since it basically had to be built from scratch (as with Pienza).<\/a> Leonardo da Vinci chose a spot on the banks of the Ticino River, the largest tributary of the Po, to carry out his project for an ideal city. It never ended up getting built and over time, Renaissance standards fell into oblivion. It wasn\u2019t until the 19th<\/sup> and the 20th<\/sup> century, particularly, that some of the lessons from Leonardo and his contemporaries were taken up again.<\/p>\n
This lazzaretto, <\/em>a common building for quarantining contagious patients, has to be well ventilated and have sanitary measures in place, such as one latrine per person. Moreover, it would be cut off from the rest of the city by a moat. Its construction began in 1488 and would last for more than 20 years. Even today, it is remembered with the via<\/em> lazzaretto<\/em> in the heart of the Lombard capital.<\/p>\n However, the impact of the plague of 1485 drove not only this project. Renaissance Italy had regained urbanism for the West. The chaotic, unhealthy cities of the Middle Ages had to be addressed. Construction projects such as Pienza (today a UNESCO heritage site)<\/a> pursued the concept of citt\u00e1 ideale<\/em>.<\/em> Not necessarily a beautiful city, but an efficient, clean, well-organized one. All of this served as inspiration for Leonardo da Vinci.<\/p>\n Ideal city prototype during the Renaissance.<\/p><\/div>\n “Leonardo wanted a comfortable and spacious city, with well-ordered streets and architecture. He recommended \u201chigh, strong walls\u201d, with \u201ctowers and battlements of all necessary and pleasant beauty\u201d, and felt the place needed \u201cthe sublimity and magnificence of a holy temple\u201d,” Alessandro Melis, Head Lecturer on Sustainable Cities from Portsmouth University, notes in this article.<\/a> A city that should, from the start, fulfill Renaissance ideals \u2013 and not just those.<\/p>\n The ideal Renaissance city was based on \u2013 what else? \u2013 the precepts of classical architecture and urbanism.<\/a> Inspired by Rome and Greece, Renaissance architects noted the importance of choosing a healthy place, the city\u2019s design for withstanding nature (anything from animal attacks to storms), building spacious places for public activities, efficient organization, and more.<\/p>\n In short, a modern, rational city. A big investment was needed to make it possible since it basically had to be built from scratch (as with Pienza).<\/a> Leonardo da Vinci chose a spot on the banks of the Ticino River, the largest tributary of the Po, to carry out his project for an ideal city. It never ended up getting built and over time, Renaissance standards fell into oblivion. It wasn\u2019t until the 19th<\/sup> and the 20th<\/sup> century, particularly, that some of the lessons from Leonardo and his contemporaries were taken up again.<\/p>\nThe ideals of the Renaissance city<\/strong><\/h2>\n