Fortresses in the ？ibenik ''campo di sotto'' – the remains of Fort Vrpolje and Parisotto Tower

Sa？etak Fort Vrpolje and the Parisotto Tower originated as a reaction against constant raids by the Ottoman army that began in the second half of the 15th century in Donje Polje (campo di sotto), an area that was of vital importance for the sustenance the ？ibenik Commune. Such a defense system was fully compatible with the efforts of other Dalmatian Venice-governed communes that were also in danger from Ottoman incursions. Other than to protect the populations of the settlements in Donje Polje, both fortresses also served as outposts that defended ？ibenik against the enemy attacking its defensive walls. Fort Vrpolje was situated in the easternmost portion of Donje Polje, while the Parisotto Tower stood in its midst. The latter initially originated as a nobleman’s residence which, according to archival records, was erected in 1503 by Ivan Parisotto, a member of the ？ibenik noble family of ？imuni？. The first mention of the fortresses in official Venetian reports dates to 1520, and immediately after that the Parisotto Tower became a communal fortress. As early as the War of Cyprus (1570 – 1573), the two fortresses became outworks of the ？ibenik defense system. With the outbreak of the Cretan War (1645 – 1669), the ？ibenik population appealed to the Venetian authorities to fortify the town surroundings, principally having in mind two sites: St. John’s Hill directly above the town and Fort Vrpolje. Fort Vrpolje and the Parisotto Tower – about which there is considerably less historical record – had in the period between the War of Cyprus and the Cretan War been demolished and renovated on several occasions. It seems, however, that after they had been brought down in the early days of the Cretan War, they were never re-erected, as confirmed by their meager present-day remains. The Military Frontier was from the beginning of the Morean War (1684 – 1699) moved deep into the territory previously held by the Ottomans, rendering the renovation of fortresses in Donje Polje strategically redundant. After the Ottoman raids ceased, a part of the stone material from Fort Vrpolje ended up in houses of the eponymous local village. It is not possible to fully reconstruct the perimeter of Fort Vrpolje, owing to the scanty remains of former defensive walls. There is a particular problem concerning the prehistorical dry stone defensive wall that encircles the fort, as well as its function during the Venetian-Ottoman wars. This dry stone wall was possibly a kind of sub-wall of the fort, where the local population could also take shelter. Within Fort Vrpolje there is also