Torre degli Asinelli (Asinelli Tower), the tallest medieval leaning tower in the world, is located in Bologna, in Piazza di Porta Ravegnana, about 350 meters away from Piazza Maggiore. Together with the nearby Garisenda Tower (Torre della Garisenda), forms the architectural complex named Two Towers (Due Torri), symbol of the city of Bologna. SHORT HISTORY We do not know exactly who built the Asinelli Tower, but it seems that the tower owes its name to Gherardo Asinelli, a noble knight of the Ghibelline faction in Bologna, who began its constuction on October 11, 1109, and finished ten years later, in 1119. At the end of the 14th century, with the decline of the Asinelli family, the tower was purchased by the Municipality of Bologna to be used as a prison and fortress. During the same period, a wooden frame was built around the tower, placed thirty meters above the ground, joined with the Garisenda Tower through a walkway. The walkway was destroyed by a fire in 1398. Over the centuries, the Asinelli Tower was struck by lightning many times, until a lightning rod was installed in 1824. In 1888, the engineer Alessandro Ferretti proposed to mount an elevator inside Read more [...]
All Towers in Bologna
The Torre degli Asinelli and Torre Garisenda are Bologna’s best-known medieval towers and among the city’s principal symbols. Both were built during the Middle Ages, when numerous noble families erected towers throughout the urban centre. The Asinelli rises to about 97 metres, while the shorter Garisenda is distinguished by its pronounced lean.
Other surviving towers illustrate how widespread these structures once were. The Torre dell’Orologio, incorporated into Palazzo d’Accursio, overlooks Piazza Maggiore and received its large mechanical clock in the fifteenth century. Nearby, the Torre dell’Arengo rises above Palazzo del Podestà, reinforcing the strongly medieval appearance of Bologna’s principal civic square.