The so-called Venetian Walls are a grandiose in their design defence structure of the city of Nicosia, which was created under the direction of Italian military engineers Francisco Barbaro and Giulio Savorgiano. The construction, or rather modernisation of the existing fortifications, began in 1567, almost immediately after the Venetians seized the territory, and lasted several years. During this time, the new owners of Nicosia demolished several old palaces and churches to obtain building materials and at the same time improved the view of the neighbouring territories. In addition, according to the engineers' design, the Pedieos River was left outside the city wall. On the one hand, this was done to protect Nicosia from possible flooding, and also to fill the protective moat around the perimeter of the wall with river water.
However, all the labours of the builders were in vain - soon, namely in 1570, the city was captured effortlessly by the Ottomans, who were led by Admiral Lala Mustafa Pasha. Moreover, the Venetians did not manage to complete the construction of their grandiose defences around the city.
At the moment, the length of the circumference of the fortification is about three miles, and around the perimeter are located 11 bastions, which have the shape of regular pentagons. These towers were named after the famous Italian aristocratic families of Nicosia, who provided funds for the construction of the wall. There were also three main gates to access the city: Porta San Domenico (Paphos Gate), Porta del Proveditore (Kyrenia Gate) and Porta Juliana (Famagusta Gate).
