The book is divided into two volumes. The first one, in which the theory of military architecture is treated, is again divided into 7 chapters or “libri” as Pietro Sardi calls them. In each of those chapters is talked about one of the following themes: “reasons”, “sites”, “damage”, “forms”, “materials” or “subjects”, “manner of defending, monitor, ‘vettouagliare’ the strenghtend site”, “the manner of defending the fortress”. Except for the third chapter, which is approximately 150 pages long, all of the chapters contain between 10 and 30 pages. In total, the first volume counts 300 pages with very few illustrations only at the beginning of the chapters. Furthermore, the text is written in Italian as well as in Latin. It is easy to tell the two different languages apart even if one does not speak them because the latin parts are printed with an italic font. The second volume is shorter than the first one and only counts 83 pages. It is dedicated to the practice of military architecture. Sardi himself writes that the second volume demonstrates the manner of forming each type of fortress as well as their perfections and imperfections. As a consequence of his very geometrical approach of this theme, some illustrations of fortresses and geometrical forms, such as triangles and cercles, are added.
The book measures 350mm x 245mm x 40mm and counts 407 pages (table of content and 2 volumes).
