Nineteenth century Trentine fortifications offer the historian a rich vein of research. Albeit a sad witness to the bellicosity of modern history, they nevertheless document developments in construction materials and technologies and the consequent spin-offs that were to benefit the civil construction industry. The need to build a significant number of military engineering works led to the formal standardisation of sites, sizes, construction methods, bureaucratic procedures and maintenance. This standardisation was later to condition civilian construction practices. Consequently, uncovering the decision-making and operational coding prepared by the military bureaucracy in building the engineering works of the fortified garrison of Trento seems a worthwhile research objective. Moreover, the code brings to light embryonic quality-control concepts in the construction and maintenance stages