The Countermine of
the Bastion of the Islands
The defence tunnel or countermine can be reached via a steep stone
staircase, which was once illuminated by flame torches held in niches in the
walls. Planned by the military engineer Pietro Antonio Tomasello from Padua, it
was built in around 1530.
The countermine ("contromina") is a low-ceilinged tunnel - too low for an average man to
walk upright – that follows the perimeter of the bastion. One metre 60cm high
and about a metre wide, the tunnel also opens onto small, square or rectangular
rooms which are up to 2 metres wide.
In the event of a siege, soldiers would wait patiently in the countermine
listening out for any sign of enemy digging. To attack the bastion, the enemy,
in fact, would secretly have to dig an underground tunnel (mine) in order to approach the foundations where it would then
place powerful explosives capable of bringing down the imposing walls. An
efficient system of ducts (known as catùsi),
that led from the floor on the next level of the bastion to the ceiling of the
countermine, created by the engineer Tomasello, could neutralise an enemy
attack if they entered the tunnel. Defence soldiers would pour asphyxiating
substances, capable of killing any invaders, into the ducts.
The
final part of the countermine is made up of a steep flight of steps leading to
the floor above. This exit is
currently inaccessible.
An
opening was later added to the countermine of the Bastion of the Islands providing
access to the exterior of the walled citadel and precisely to what is now “Salita
Porticella”. Evidence of this can be seen in a map dating back to the first
half of the 19th century and published in 1992 by Liliane Dufour in her
“Historical Atlas of Sicily”.
