“ Thrust and Support" of Slopes according to Carlo Fontana (1638-1714)

This study moves from a Carlo Fontana's unpublished report (1700) on the stability of the Aventine Hill in Rome (Discorso dello Stato Antico, e Moderno della Portione parte riguardevole del Colle Aventino precipitante per le caggioni sussistenti, che si aducano, e dimostrate nelli seguenti Capitoli dal Cavalier Carlo Fontana). The work is also partially aimed at reviewing the status of knowledge about the laws of balance in the early eighteenth century, pointing out the intuition in the field of bastion support. Fontana's report, enriched by an extraordinary iconographic section, is an interesting documentation about some construction aspects (such as ground mechanic and containment walls) often not mentioned and usually neglected even in the treatises.