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The most important factor for Cephalonia seems to have been the
construction of the new fortress of Asso requested by the Civil Council in an embassy sent to the Senate in 1586. Located
15 miles from the fortress of Argostoli the function of the new building
seems glaringly obvious. Asso was to serve as a deposit for equipment, weapons,
and munitions, and was a concentration site for the military forces. The
civilian population of Argostoli, the capital of the island, would instead
gather at San Giorgio, which would be used as a centre for a surveillance
detachment for these port fortifications. The erection of the walled enclosure
of Asso was connected to a special inhabited settlement program. A Senate
decree from 1599 mentioned 'concession of lands in the fortress itself... since
on this depends the building and conveyance into it' of the inhabitants of the
surrounding villages, 'it being our intention to consolidate them in the desire
to be able to move into that secure enclosure with their own possessions'.1
Footnotes:
1 'concessione de terreni dentro la medesima fortezza... poiché da
questo depende la fabrica et riduttione in essa... essendo nostra intentione di
consolidarli nel desiderio di potersi in quel sicuro ricetto ridurre con le
proprie sostanze'
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