{{Short description|Defensive system of the Austrian Empire in Italy}} {{Refimprove|date=December 2006}} [[File:QuadrilateroAustriaco.png|thumb|right|The four fortresses of the ''Quadrilatero''.]]
The '''''Quadrilatero''''' ({{Langx|en|Quadrilateral}}, for greater specificity often called the "Quadrilateral [[fortresses]]") is the traditional name of a defensive system of the [[Austrian Empire]] in the [[Lombardy-Venetia]] region of [[Italy]], which connected the fortresses of [[Peschiera del Garda|Peschiera]], [[Mantua]], [[Legnago]] and [[Verona]] between the [[Mincio]], the [[Po River|Po]], and the [[Adige River]]s. The name refers to the fact that on a map the fortresses appear to form the vertices of a [[quadrilateral]]. In the period between the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] and the [[Revolutions of 1848]], they were the only fully modernized and armed fortresses within the Empire.<ref>Rothenburg, G. ''The Army of Francis Joseph''. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 1976. p 18.</ref>
Starting from c. 1850, supplies and reinforcements were shipped to the positions through the new [[Venice]]-[[Milan]] railroad.
The experience of the [[Second Italian Independence War]] of 1859, in which [[rifled gun]]s had been used for the first time by the [[Italian Army]], pushed the Austrians to build a second line of eight forts, about 4 kilometers from the main line (completed in the spring of 1866), pivoting around [[Verona]].
==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed"> File:Die Gartenlaube (1866) b 397 1.jpg|[[Verona]] File:Die Gartenlaube (1866) b 396 1.jpg|[[Peschiera del Garda]] File:Die Gartenlaube (1866) b 396 2.jpg|[[Mantua]] File:Die Gartenlaube (1866) b 397 2.jpg|[[Legnago]] </gallery>
==See also== *[[Italian unification]] *[[Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars]] *[[Verona defensive system]] * [[Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th centuries: Stato da Terra – Western Stato da Mar]]
{{coord|45|17|39|N|10|58|06|E|region:IT_type:landmark_source:kolossus-huwiki|display=title}}
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Risorgimento}}
[[Category:History of Lombardy]] [[Category:History of Veneto]] [[Category:Military history of Italy]] [[Category:Military history of Austria]] [[Category:Fortification lines]] [[Category:19th century in Italy]] [[Category:Wars of Italian Independence]]