Epact Scientific Instruments of Medieval and Renaissance Europe

Menu
 Baldassarre Lanci
Baldassarre Lanci (Urbino, 1510 - Florence, 1571) was a pupil of Gerolamo Genga and worked as a military engineer, serving the Republic of Lucca from 1547 to 1557. During this period he was also in the service of the French who controlled Montalcino for the Republic of Siena (1549), worked at Paliano and Nettuno for Marcantonio Colonna and carried out surveys for Pio IV of the walls of Rome and the fortresses of Ancona, Ostia and Civitavecchia. In 1557 he joined the service of Cosimo I to fortify the city of Siena, which had just been conquered, and other centres of Tuscany such as Radicofani (1565), Sasso di Simone, Terra del Sole and S. Martino in Mugello. As a hydraulic engineer he worked in the Maremma. He provided water once again to the centre of Sovana and worked on improvements of the port of Livorno (1566-7), experimenting with a dredger of his own invention. He also worked as a civil architect - the church of S. Maria della Rosa a Chianciano seems to have been built by him. As a scenographer he worked to design the sets for a comedy performed in Florence for the arrival of Archduke Karl of Austria in 1569.

For instruments by Baldassarre Lanci, see:
   Gunnery Instrument, Signed by Baldassarre Lanci, Italian, Dated 1557 (Firenze, IMSS)
   Surveying Instrument, Signed by Baldassarre Lanci, Italian, Dated 1557 (Firenze, IMSS)
   Triangulation Instrument, Attributed to Baldassarre Lanci, Florence, 16th century (Firenze, IMSS)