Towers of Bologna
Encyclopedia
The Towers of Bologna are a group of medieval structures in Bologna
, Italy
. The two most prominent ones, also called the Two Towers, are the landmark of the city.
Between the 12th and the 13th century, the number of tower
s in the city was very high, possibly up to 180 (see also below). The reasons for the construction of so many towers are not clear. One hypothesis is that the richest families used them for offensive/defensive purposes during the period of the Investiture Controversy
.
Besides the towers, one can still see some fortified gateways (torresotti) that correspond to the gates of the 12th-century city wall (Mura dei torresotti or Cerchia dei Mille), which itself has been almost completely destroyed.
During the 13th century, many towers were taken down or demolished, and others simply collapsed. Many towers have subsequently been utilized in one way or the other: as prison
, city tower, shop or residential building. The last demolitions took place during the 20th century, according to an ambitious, but retrospectively unfortunate, restructuring plan for the city. The Artenisi Tower and the Riccadonna Tower at the Mercato di mezzo were demolished in 1917.
Of the numerous towers originally present, fewer than twenty can still be seen today. Among the remaining ones are the Azzoguidi Tower, also called Altabella (with a height of 61 m), the Prendiparte Tower, called Coronata (60 m), the Scappi Tower (39 m), Uguzzoni Tower (32 m), Guidozagni Tower, Galluzzi Tower, and the famous Two Towers: the Asinelli Tower (97 m) and the Garisenda Tower (48 m).
Recently, the city's architectural tradition of tower building has been given a new lease with the "towers" of the Trade show district by the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange
.
Each tower had a square cross-section with foundations
between five and ten meters deep, reinforced by poles hammered into the ground and covered with pebble
and lime
. The tower's base was made of big blocks of selenite stone. The remaining walls became successively thinner and lighter the higher the structure was raised, and were realised in so-called "a sacco" masonry
: with a thick inner wall and a thinner outer wall, where the gap was filled with stones and mortar
.
Usually, some holes were left in the outer wall as well as bigger hollows in the selenite to support scaffolding
s and to allow for later coverings and constructions, generally on the basis of wood
.
and there has been considerable debate about their peak number before the first ones were demolished to avoid collapse or for other reasons.
The first historian to study the towers of Bologna in a systematic way was Count Giovanni Gozzadini
, a senator of the Italian kingdom
in the 19th century, who studied the city's history intensively, not least to raise the prestige of his home town in the context of the now united Italy. He based his analysis mostly on the civic archives of real estate
deed
s, attempting to arrive at a reliable number of towers on the basis of documented ownership changes. His approach resulted in the extraordinary number of 180 towers, an enormous amount considering the size and resources of medieval Bologna.
More recent studies pointed out that Gozzadini's methodology might have led to multiple counts of buildings, that could have been referred to in legal documents by different names, depending on the name of the family who actually owned it at a given moment. More recent estimates reduced therefore the number to a total between 80 and 100, where not all towers existed at the same time.
It is believed that the Asinelli Tower initially had a height of ca. 70 m and was raised only later to the current 97.2 m (with an overhanging rock of 2.2 m). In the 14th century the city became its owner and used it as prison and small stronghold. During this period a wooden construction was added around the tower at a height of 30 m above ground, which was connected with an aerial footbridge (later destroyed during a fire in 1398) to the Garisenda Tower. Its addition is attributed to Giovanni Visconti, Duke of Milan
, who allegedly wanted to use it to control the turbulent Mercato di Mezzo (today via Rizzoli) and suppress possible revolts. The Visconti
had become the rulers of Bologna after the decline of the Signoria
of the Pepoli
family, but were rather unpopular in the city.
Severe damage was caused by lightning that often resulted in small fires and collapses, and only in 1824 was a lightning rod
installed. The tower survived, however, at least two documented large fires: the first in 1185 was due to arson
and the second one in 1398 has already been mentioned above.
The Asinelli Tower was used by the scientists Giovanni Battista Riccioli
(in 1640) and Giovanni Battista Guglielmini
(in the following century) for experiments to study the motion of heavy bodies
and the earth rotation
. In World War II
, between 1943 and 1945, it was used as a sight post: During bombing attacks, four volunteers took post at the top to direct rescue operations to places hit by allied bombs. Later, a RAI
television relay was installed on top.
The Garisenda Tower has today a height of 48 m with an overhang of 3.2 m. Initially it was approximately 60 m high, but had to be lowered in the 14th century due to a yielding of the ground which left it slanting and dangerous. In the early 15th century, the tower was bought by the Arte dei Drappieri, which remained the sole owner until the Garisenda became municipal property at the end of the 19th century.
It was cited several times by Dante
in the Divine Comedy and the The Rime (a confirmation of his stay in Bologna). The Two Towers have also been subject of an homonymous poem by Giosuè Carducci
as part of the Barbarian Odes
.
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. The two most prominent ones, also called the Two Towers, are the landmark of the city.
History
Tower
A tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires....
s in the city was very high, possibly up to 180 (see also below). The reasons for the construction of so many towers are not clear. One hypothesis is that the richest families used them for offensive/defensive purposes during the period of the Investiture Controversy
Investiture Controversy
The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest was the most significant conflict between Church and state in medieval Europe. In the 11th and 12th centuries, a series of Popes challenged the authority of European monarchies over control of appointments, or investitures, of church officials such...
.
Besides the towers, one can still see some fortified gateways (torresotti) that correspond to the gates of the 12th-century city wall (Mura dei torresotti or Cerchia dei Mille), which itself has been almost completely destroyed.
During the 13th century, many towers were taken down or demolished, and others simply collapsed. Many towers have subsequently been utilized in one way or the other: as prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
, city tower, shop or residential building. The last demolitions took place during the 20th century, according to an ambitious, but retrospectively unfortunate, restructuring plan for the city. The Artenisi Tower and the Riccadonna Tower at the Mercato di mezzo were demolished in 1917.
Of the numerous towers originally present, fewer than twenty can still be seen today. Among the remaining ones are the Azzoguidi Tower, also called Altabella (with a height of 61 m), the Prendiparte Tower, called Coronata (60 m), the Scappi Tower (39 m), Uguzzoni Tower (32 m), Guidozagni Tower, Galluzzi Tower, and the famous Two Towers: the Asinelli Tower (97 m) and the Garisenda Tower (48 m).
Recently, the city's architectural tradition of tower building has been given a new lease with the "towers" of the Trade show district by the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange
Kenzo Tange
was a Japanese architect, and winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture. He was one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, combining traditional Japanese styles with modernism, and designed major buildings on five continents. Tange was also an influential protagonist of...
.
Construction
The construction of the towers was quite onerous, the usage of serfs notwithstanding. To build a typical tower with a height of 60 meters would have required between three and 10 years of work.Each tower had a square cross-section with foundations
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
between five and ten meters deep, reinforced by poles hammered into the ground and covered with pebble
Pebble
A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of 4 to 64 millimetres based on the Krumbein phi scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered to be larger than granules and smaller than cobbles . A rock made predominantly of pebbles is termed a conglomerate...
and lime
Lime (mineral)
Lime is a general term for calcium-containing inorganic materials, in which carbonates, oxides and hydroxides predominate. Strictly speaking, lime is calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for a single mineral of the CaO composition, occurring very rarely...
. The tower's base was made of big blocks of selenite stone. The remaining walls became successively thinner and lighter the higher the structure was raised, and were realised in so-called "a sacco" masonry
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
: with a thick inner wall and a thinner outer wall, where the gap was filled with stones and mortar
Mortar (masonry)
Mortar is a workable paste used to bind construction blocks together and fill the gaps between them. The blocks may be stone, brick, cinder blocks, etc. Mortar becomes hard when it sets, resulting in a rigid aggregate structure. Modern mortars are typically made from a mixture of sand, a binder...
.
Usually, some holes were left in the outer wall as well as bigger hollows in the selenite to support scaffolding
Scaffolding
Scaffolding is a temporary structure used to support people and material in the construction or repair of buildings and other large structures. It is usually a modular system of metal pipes or tubes, although it can be from other materials...
s and to allow for later coverings and constructions, generally on the basis of wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
.
Number
The towers must actually have crowded Bologna in the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and there has been considerable debate about their peak number before the first ones were demolished to avoid collapse or for other reasons.
The first historian to study the towers of Bologna in a systematic way was Count Giovanni Gozzadini
Giovanni Gozzadini
Giovanni Gozzadini was an Italian archeologist.The last male heir of a noble family in Bologna, that had given the city men-at-arms, doctors, and jurists, Giovanni was a highly educated man in other areas such as politics...
, a senator of the Italian kingdom
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
in the 19th century, who studied the city's history intensively, not least to raise the prestige of his home town in the context of the now united Italy. He based his analysis mostly on the civic archives of real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
deed
Deed
A deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, or affirms or confirms something which passes, an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions sealed...
s, attempting to arrive at a reliable number of towers on the basis of documented ownership changes. His approach resulted in the extraordinary number of 180 towers, an enormous amount considering the size and resources of medieval Bologna.
More recent studies pointed out that Gozzadini's methodology might have led to multiple counts of buildings, that could have been referred to in legal documents by different names, depending on the name of the family who actually owned it at a given moment. More recent estimates reduced therefore the number to a total between 80 and 100, where not all towers existed at the same time.
Two Towers
The Two Towers, both of them leaning, are the symbol of the city. They are located at the intersection of the roads that lead to the five gates of the old ring wall (mura dei torresotti). The taller one is called the Asinelli while the smaller but more leaning tower is called the Garisenda. Their names derive from the families which are traditionally credited for their construction between 1109 and 1119. However, the scarcity of documents from this early period makes this in reality rather uncertain. The name of the Asinelli family, for example, is documented for the first time actually only in 1185, almost 70 years after the presumed construction of the tower which is attributed to them.It is believed that the Asinelli Tower initially had a height of ca. 70 m and was raised only later to the current 97.2 m (with an overhanging rock of 2.2 m). In the 14th century the city became its owner and used it as prison and small stronghold. During this period a wooden construction was added around the tower at a height of 30 m above ground, which was connected with an aerial footbridge (later destroyed during a fire in 1398) to the Garisenda Tower. Its addition is attributed to Giovanni Visconti, Duke of Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, who allegedly wanted to use it to control the turbulent Mercato di Mezzo (today via Rizzoli) and suppress possible revolts. The Visconti
House of Visconti
Visconti is the family name of two important Italian noble dynasties of the Middle Ages. There are two distinct Visconti families: The first one in the Republic of Pisa in the mid twelfth century who achieved prominence first in Pisa, then in Sardinia where they became rulers of Gallura...
had become the rulers of Bologna after the decline of the Signoria
Signoria
A Signoria was an abstract noun meaning 'government; governing authority; de facto sovereignty; lordship in many of the Italian city states during the medieval and renaissance periods....
of the Pepoli
Pepoli
The family of Pepoli were lords of Bologna who took power in the chaotic commune riven by the struggles between Guelfs and Ghibellines and ruled during the first half of the 14th century. Their seat in the city was Palazzo Pepoli Antico, constructed by Taddeo...
family, but were rather unpopular in the city.
Severe damage was caused by lightning that often resulted in small fires and collapses, and only in 1824 was a lightning rod
Lightning rod
A lightning rod or lightning conductor is a metal rod or conductor mounted on top of a building and electrically connected to the ground through a wire, to protect the building in the event of lightning...
installed. The tower survived, however, at least two documented large fires: the first in 1185 was due to arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
and the second one in 1398 has already been mentioned above.
The Asinelli Tower was used by the scientists Giovanni Battista Riccioli
Giovanni Battista Riccioli
Giovanni Battista Riccioli was an Italian astronomer and a Catholic priest in the Jesuit order...
(in 1640) and Giovanni Battista Guglielmini
Giovanni Battista Guglielmini
Giovanni Battista Guglielmini was an Italian physicist. He is known as the first scientific experimenter on the mechanical demonstration of the rotation of the earth.-Life:...
(in the following century) for experiments to study the motion of heavy bodies
Gravitation
Gravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
and the earth rotation
Earth rotation
Earth's rotation is the rotation of the solid Earth around its own axis. The Earth rotates towards the east. As viewed from the North Star Polaris, the Earth turns counter-clockwise.- Rotation period :...
. In World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, between 1943 and 1945, it was used as a sight post: During bombing attacks, four volunteers took post at the top to direct rescue operations to places hit by allied bombs. Later, a RAI
RAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
television relay was installed on top.
The Garisenda Tower has today a height of 48 m with an overhang of 3.2 m. Initially it was approximately 60 m high, but had to be lowered in the 14th century due to a yielding of the ground which left it slanting and dangerous. In the early 15th century, the tower was bought by the Arte dei Drappieri, which remained the sole owner until the Garisenda became municipal property at the end of the 19th century.
It was cited several times by Dante
DANTE
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
in the Divine Comedy and the The Rime (a confirmation of his stay in Bologna). The Two Towers have also been subject of an homonymous poem by Giosuè Carducci
Giosuè Carducci
Giosuè Alessandro Michele Carducci was an Italian poet and teacher. He was very influential and was regarded as the official national poet of modern Italy. In 1906 he became the first Italian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.-Biography:...
as part of the Barbarian Odes
Barbarian Odes
Barbarian Odes is a collection of three books of poetry by Giosuè Carducci, published between 1877 and 1889.-Overview:Together, the three books of Barbarian Odes contain 56 poems...
.
Towers
- Accursi Tower (Torre Accursi or Torre dell'orologio) - P.zza Maggiore
- Agresti Tower (Torre Agresti) - P.zza Galileo
- Alberici Tower (Torre Alberici) - Via S. Stefano - P.zza della Mercanzia
- Arengo Tower (Torre dell'Arengo) - Piazza Maggiore
- Asinelli Tower (Torre degli Asinelli) - P.zza Ravegnana, 82
- Azzoguidi Tower (Torre Azzoguidi or Torre Altabella) - Via Altabella, 7
- Bertolotti-Clarissimi Tower (Torre Bertolotti-Clarissimi) - Via Farini, 11
- Carrari Tower (Torre Carrari) - Via Marchesana
- Catalani Tower (Torre Catalani) - Vicolo Spirito Santo
- Conoscenti Tower (Torre Conoscenti) - Via Manzoni, 6 (cortile del Museo Civico Medioevale)
- Galluzzi Tower (Torre Galluzzi) - Corte Galluzzi
- Garisenda Tower (Torre Garisenda) - P.zza Ravegnana
- Ghisilieri Tower (Torre Ghisilieri) - Via Nazario Sauro
- Guidozagni Tower (Torre Guidozagni) - Via Albiroli 1-3
- Lambertini Tower (Torre Lambertini) - Piazza Re Enzo
- Lapi Tower (Torre Lapi) - Via IV Novembre
- Oseletti Tower (Torre Oseletti) - Strada Maggiore, 34-36
- Prendiparte Tower (Torre Prendiparte or Torre Coronata) - Via S. Alò, 7
- Scappi Tower (Torre Scappi) - Via Indipendenza, 1
- Toschi Tower (Torre Toschi) - P.zza Minghetti dietro Casa Policardi
- Uguzzoni Tower (Torre Uguzzoni)' - Vicolo Mandria, 1
Gateways
- Castiglione Gateway (Torresotto di Castiglione) - Via Castiglione, 47
- Piella Gateway (Torresotto dei Piella, or Porta Govese or del Mercato) - Via Piella, via Bertiera
- Porta Nuova Gateway (Torresotto di porta Nuova or del Pratello) - Via Porta Nuova, via M. Finzi
- San Vitale Gateway (Torresotto di San Vitale) - Via S. Vitale, 56
Quotations by Dante Alighieri
- As when one sees the tower called Garisenda
- from underneath its leaning side, and then a cloud
- passes over and it seems to lean the more,
- thus did Antaeus seem to my fixed gaze
- as I watched him bend...
- Divine Comedy, Inferno, XXXI, 136-140
- Divine Comedy, Inferno, XXXI, 136-140
- Never can my eyes make amends to me --short
- of going blind-- for their great fault,
- that they gazed at the Garisenda tower
- with its fine view, and --confound them!--
- missed her, the worthiest of those
- who are talked about.
- Rime, VIII