Ingegneri militari nella Sicilia degli Asburgo: formazione, competenze e carriera di una figura professionale tra Cinque e Seicento

During the Sixteenth century and the first half of the following one, Sicily played a key role in the strategy of defense of the Spanish Empire from the looming Turkish threat, being an island considered as a baluarte against the Turks. Yet despite this absolute centrality in the military policy of the Spanish monarchy, till now historical research has preferred to provide broader spectrum interpretations at the expense of in-depth studies on individual technicians or overall pictures about the figure of the military engineer. We will present a synoptic view attesting the time period of activity covered by each military technician working for the kingdom of Sicily, within a wider study concerning the origin of this professional figure, the diversification of technicians working on fortifications, the progressive changes in the organizational chart and the enrichment of competences for military engineers much beyond " l’arte del fortificare".