Bolognese towers. A brief overview of the leaning towers in Bologna. Architectural features of Bologna

Ancient city Bologna is located almost in the very center of Italy, in the region Emilia-Romagna. Bologna in its popularity among tourists is inferior to such Italian cities as, say, Venice or Florence, but in our opinion this is not entirely deserved. After all, Bologna has a glorious history, and the city itself is rich in historical and architectural monuments. One of the main symbols of the city are the famous towers of bologna, which largely determine the appearance of the city and will be discussed in this article.

The Towers of Bologna are a group of medieval buildings that are located in the very center of the city. There are many towers in Bologna, but the most famous are the “Two Towers”.

It should be noted that in the Middle Ages, especially in the 12th and 13th centuries, the construction of huge towers, not inferior in height to modern skyscrapers, was quite common. For example, in Bologna the total number of towers in the Middle Ages reached two hundred. The number is not small.

History of the towers

The reasons for the construction of the towers are still unclear. But the most popular version is the one according to which the towers were built by rich and noble Italian families for their own protection. Indeed, each of the towers of Bologna is a real fortress, which is not easy to get inside.

In the 14th century, many of Bologna's towers were destroyed or simply dismantled. Some of the towers changed their original purpose and began to serve as prisons, council buildings and even shops.

The greatest blow to the towers of Bologna was dealt at the very beginning of the 20th century, when the city authorities launched a general reconstruction of the historical center of Bologna. Fortunately, not all the city's towers were destroyed, and today the towers of Bologna are one of the main historical monuments cities.

The most famous towers the city is, whose height reaches 61 meters, Prendipate Tower, 60 meters high, Scappi Tower, 39 meters high, Uguzzoni Tower, 32 meters high. And undoubtedly two symbols of Bologna– Asinelli Tower (97 meters) and Garisenda Tower (48 meters). The last two towers are called “Two Towers”.

The main towers of Bologna – “Two Towers”- also notable for the fact that from the very beginning they were built at an angle, which is why they are also popularly called leaning towers. The towers were located in the very center of medieval Bologna, in the place where all the roads from the city gates intersected. These towers were built at the very beginning of the 12th century, and these towers received their name after the main sponsors of the construction.

Tower Asinelli often used by Italian scientists to conduct various types of experiments. During the Second World War, the tower housed a civil defense post, whose task was to detect fires in Bologna during the bombing. After the war, a television antenna was installed at the top of the tower. Let us also add that “The Two Towers” was quoted several times by Dante in his “Divine Comedy”.

"Two Towers" on the map

What do you see in this engraving or painting? It looks like some kind of area with skyscrapers like Manhattan or something in New York! Well, this is definitely some kind of urban area of a modern city.

Will it surprise you if I tell you that this is medieval Bologna of the 12th century. How did this happen?

Bologna is a city of towers. They are one of the main attractions of the city. Unfortunately, not many towers have survived to this day. But in the Middle Ages, the city was imagined as a real forest of towers, and looked something like this:

The main heyday of the “Bolognese towers” occurred around the 12th - 13th centuries, when their number reached over 180. The reasons for the construction of such large number towers According to one version, rich families used them for attack/defense during the struggle for investiture.

In addition to the towers, one can also see a fortified gate (torresotti), corresponding to the 12th century fortification wall (Mura dei torresotti or Cerchia dei Mille), although the wall itself was almost completely destroyed.

In the 13th century, many towers were dismantled, while others simply collapsed. The few surviving towers were used in various ways, serving as a prison, a city tower, a store, or even a residential building. The last demolitions occurred in 1917, when two towers were demolished for an ambitious but unsuccessful urban renewal plan.

So the current landscape of Bologna looks completely different:

No more than 20 such towers remain today in Bologna. The most famous of them are Asinelli and Garisenda, whose iconic uniform is a famous symbol of the city. Both towers are named after the names of their owners. The Asinelli Tower, at 97 m high, is taller, but the Garisenda, at 48 m high, has a more visible slope with a deviation of 3 m. Both towers had an original height of approximately 60-70 m, but when Garisenda began to lean, its height decreased. The Asinelli Tower, on the other hand, had its height increased in the fourteenth century, when it was converted into a city prison and housed a small citadel.

During this period, a wooden structure was added around the Tower at a height of 30 meters with an aerial pedestrian bridge leading to the Garisenda Tower. The pedestrian bridge was destroyed during a fire in 1398.

You can even climb some of the towers to admire the panorama of the city, although most of them are still closed to tourists.

It must be said that for a medieval city with its limited resources, the construction of towers was completely difficult. The construction of a 60-meter-tall tower usually took from 3 to 10 years. At the same time, slaves and prisoners of war were mainly involved in the construction. There is a version that the main towers of Bologna are the “Two Towers” - from the very beginning they were built at an angle, which is why they are also popularly called leaning towers. According to another version, this is still a construction defect. The towers were located in the very center of medieval Bologna, in the place where all the roads from the city gates intersected.

These towers got their name from the main sponsors of the construction. The Asinelli Tower was often used by Italian scientists to conduct various types of experiments. During the Second World War, the tower housed a civil defense post, whose task was to detect fires in Bologna during the bombing. After the war, a television antenna was installed at the top of the tower. Let us also add that “The Two Towers” was quoted several times by Dante in his “Divine Comedy”.

Such houses were built in the shape of a quadrangle - a truncated trapezoid. The base, going 7-10 meters into the ground, was made of selenite blocks, and the walls were double - and the inner wall was much more powerful than the first. The gap between the walls was filled with cement, as well as crushed stones or stones. The thickness of the walls sometimes reached 2 meters.

Leaning Towers of Bologna (Italy) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone, website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.

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The Leaning Towers of Bologna are not as widely known as the Leaning Towers of Pisa, but they are just as much a symbol of the city in which they are located. The tallest one, Asinelli, is not inclined as much as its neighbor, Garisenda, but it is much taller: the height of the Asinelli tower exceeds 97 m. This makes it the tallest historical building of Old Bologna and the tallest “leaning” tower in the world.

The angle of inclination of the Asinelli tower from the vertical axis is 1.3°. It would seem not so much, but given the height of the structure, this leads to a deviation of the upper part of the tower by more than 2 meters. Nevertheless, Asinelli is able to withstand this situation, but her neighbor, Garisenda, was less fortunate: her deviation initially exceeded 3 m, and this seriously threatened both the building itself and those around her. Garisenda was shortened three times, and now her height is only 48 m. But it is she, and not her taller “sister,” who is mentioned in Dante’s “Divine Comedy”.

The height of the Asinelli Tower exceeds 97 m. This makes it the tallest historical building in Old Bologna and the tallest “leaning” tower in the world.

Building towers was, in principle, fashionable among the Italian nobility in the Middle Ages. The towers served as living quarters and fortified citadels, and also demonstrated greatness and asserted the power of their owner. In Bologna alone today you can see about 20 towers, despite the fact that initially, in the 13th century, there were about one and a half hundred of them.

The design of the towers was more or less the same. Each had a foundation, reinforced by pillars driven into the ground, sprinkled with stones. The base was made of large stone blocks, and the walls became thinner the higher they were. Usually there were two walls: a thicker inner one and a thinner outer one, and the gap between them was filled with rubble.

In the 18th century, Giovanni Guglielmo studied gravity by throwing objects from the Asinelli Tower.

Of course, many legends are associated with the construction of “leaning” towers, including one that promises a young man in love the hand of a beauty only after the construction of the tallest tower in the city. However, the historical truth is rather that construction technologies in those days left much to be desired. In order to erect a tower of a typical design with a height of about 60 m, it took from 3 to 10 years of work. According to vague data, the Asinelli family of the same name began building at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. Several centuries later, the city took possession of the tower, and a prison was set up here. The neighboring towers were connected by a kind of wooden bridge, but it burned down during a city fire. During World War II, the Asinelli Tower was used as an observation post and subsequently as a television tower.

Today you can climb the Asinelli Tower by spiral staircase, which has almost 500 steps. The Garisenda is closed for inspection from the inside.

Other towers of Bologna worth paying attention to are Azzogildi aka Altabella (61 m), Prendiparte aka Coronata (60 m), Scappi (39 m), Uguzzoni (32 m), Gildosagni and Galuzzi.

The Leaning Towers are located at the crossroads leading to the five gates of the old city wall, and it is impossible not to find them.

In the previous post about Bologna, I simply... I admired its cozy streets!

And he finished his story the moment he reached the two tall towers of Bologna.

They are quite iconic for Bologna and are even symbols of the city!

So today I decided to dedicate a separate post to them!

The towers are impressive with their height! They were visible from almost all corners of the city! They are located right in the city center on the square Piazza di Porta Ravegnana and all the main streets of the city converge to them.

Why are they so interesting?

The highest of them is Asinelli Tower. Its height is 97 meters, which is very high for a structure built in 1109.

And the one that is lower - Garisenda Tower. Its height is much lower, about 48 meters, and it was built in the same period as the Asinelli tower.

When you look at the two of them, they look unreal and amazing. But they are built at such an angle that they seem to fall on top of each other.

To the tower Asinelli it was possible to get up. Of course, we decided to do this, despite the fact that there is no elevator inside!

Asinelli the tower is open to everyone in the spring from 9.00 - 18:00, in summer until 19:00, in winter until 17:00.

Well, we went inside and were greeted by a rather inhospitable entrance!

Cost of climbing to the very top of the tower only 3 euros!

This is the ticket! With a stamp and even a handwritten ticket number!

We slowly went up, completely unaware of what awaited us ahead, and it was even more interesting to go!

When you walk inside, you see the old brickwork of that time and understand the very structure of the tower.

There is very little space inside the Asinelli tower; a narrow spiral wooden staircase with 498 steps leads to the very top. When you climb it, you get the feeling of some kind of additional excursion; it’s certainly not easy to walk, especially when you have backpacks weighing about 10 kilograms on your shoulders, but we travel with backpacks, there’s nothing we can do about it. But it’s so very interesting! And you enjoy the climb!

As I wrote earlier, there is no elevator here, there is only one route to the Asinelli tower up and then also down a spiral staircase, so narrow that in some places you or you have to "give in" so that you can disperse when descending or ascending.

Fortunately, along the entire route there are several special platforms where you can safely stop and rest.

But, despite such difficult conditions, people walk constantly and of completely different ages, both elderly and children, not paying attention to the almost 1000 steps in both directions.

There are many different signposts along the way. For example, this inscription M.87 Ghirlandina Di Modena. It meant that we were at an altitude of 87 meters, above the Ghirlandina tower in the city of Modena.

Here is a list of the tallest towers in Italy:

In about 15-20 minutes we conquered the tower and reached highest point! The reward for the difficult climb was an incredible view of the entire city!

Another distinctive feature of the city immediately became visible: the identical roofs!

Down Garisenda Tower.

From above you can clearly see how Bolognese people wisely use balconies and roofs of houses. They plant trees, flowers, set up tables and enjoy life!

And some people just put up sun loungers and sunbathe. This is clearly visible to the right of the frame.

From the top there was another excellent view of palace Palazzo d'Accursio, near which I walked in the morning.

Palazzo d'Accursio, taken from the tower in a higher resolution of 2500px:
Palazzo d'Accursio

More towers are visible from above; I saw a couple. But I was at my most high tower in the city!

A prominent building from above - Palace and Residence Cassa di Risparmio.

The road below with the cars was like a toy!

visible in the distance oldest park Bologna, - Giardino della Montagnola.

Basilica of Santa Maria della Vita.

And here in the distance are the world famous Tuscan vineyards!

Using the links below you can look at panoramas taken from Asinelli towers in higher resolution 2500px:
Asinelli Tower
Asinelli Tower No.2
Asinelli Tower No. 3

You can also look at the panorama of the street Via Francesco Rizzoli in 2500px resolution at the link below:
Via Francesco Rizzoli

Having examined the entire city from all sides, an hour later we decided to go down.

In fact, this is just a small part of the towers that have survived in the city. They say that in medieval times during the 12th-13th centuries, There were at least 200 such towers!

This is how big it looked:

The reasons for the construction of so many towers are not clear. One hypothesis is that the richest families used them for offensive or defensive purposes. It was possible to both defend against invaders and conduct reconnaissance from above! And also the enormous height showed the social prestige of the noble families of those times.

These are amazing because the towers were built in the 12th century.

Unfortunately, during the 13th and 14th centuries, most of these towers were almost completely demolished or destroyed. Only sketches have survived, from which you can see what the city was like at that time!

Many of the surviving towers were later used as prisons for prisoners, some as homes and shops.

The last demolition of the towers took place not so long ago, in the 20th century, in connection with the reconstruction of the city. It’s a shame that the towers haven’t survived to this day! Today one could be proud of a small but handful of such old medieval skyscrapers with a 9-century history!

Of the approximately 200 towers originally present, approximately 10 can still be seen today.

Among them:
1) Azzoguidi tower, which is also called Altabella (from a height of 61 m),
2) Prendiparte tower, called CORONATA (60 m)
3) Scappi tower (39 m)
4) Uguzzoni tower (32 m)
5) Guidozagni tower
6) Galluzzi tower
7) And the famous Two Fortresses: Asinelli Tower (97 m) and Garisenda Tower (48 m).

Church of San Martino.

Bologna Canal, which was a center of trade in the 13th century, has survived to this day!
There is one place in the city that overlooks the canal; this corner of the city is also known as Little Venice.

Theater L'Arena del Sole.

Click on the link below to view the panorama. theater L "Arena del Sole in higher resolution 2500px:
L'Arena del Sole

Then we got to oldest park Bologna, - Giardino della Montagnola. We walked there a bit. It turned out to be quite small, but cozy.

Besides the towers, in Bologna you can still see some fortified gateways that were the city walls of the 12th century, unfortunately they were almost completely destroyed. Here, near the park, the ruins of an old castle were found.

Along the park goes street Via Dell "Indipendenza.

Click on the link below to view the panorama. streets Via Dell"Indipendenza in higher resolution 2500px:
Via Dell"Indipendenza

Beautiful Flowers on the balcony of one of the houses.

We were heading to the station, and along the way we looked back again and looked at the Asinelli tower.

A rather interesting Durex condom vending machine was also discovered. Good decision! I decided to take a photo of it.

Walking around Bologna was unreal! She is very beautiful! And the Towers simply amazed me! 9 centuries ago Bologna was huge medieval city with 200 skyscrapers!

I repeat once again that it is a pity that only a small part of them has survived! But it’s so valuable to touch them! Many have not even heard of these towers, all because the towers, and Bologna itself, are not as popular as some other places in Italy. But Bologna is no worse, and sometimes even better!

My route around Bologna can be seen at the link:
Route around Bologna.

By evening I had to say goodbye to another wonderful place, but nothing can be done, the next one was waiting for me Italian city, - Milan! And the Italo train rushed me there at a speed of 300 km/h.

Previous posts

Let's take a short break before highly informative stories about Bolognese churches and take a walk around the city.

The symbol of Bologna is the Two Towers - Garisenda and Asinelli. It is generally believed that in the communal era (XII-XIII centuries) there were up to 100 towers in Bologna, now only 24 remain. The towers became victims of wars, fires, decrees of the papal government and grandiose plans for the reconstruction of the city (the last “victims” fell in 1918- 1919); Moreover, the surviving towers have sagged considerably and are almost invisible in ordinary urban development. But despite everything in the world, a pair of towers, built between 1109 and 1119, survived more or less intact in the center.

The right (larger) one is called Azinelli, its current height is 97.2 m, although researchers, based on the thickness of the walls at the base, suggest that the original height was 25 meters more. The left (smaller) one is called Garisenda, its height is 48 m (according to calculations it was 60 m)

Praised Leaning Tower of Pisa and did not stand next to our (I am telling you this on behalf of the Bolognese people) Garisenda!

And you can climb the Asinelli Tower for a symbolic bribe. True, inside there awaits a very tedious climb up a narrow, steep staircase, with virtually no rest areas. Of course, I couldn't miss it and...was punished for my arrogance. Let me remind you that it rained continuously on January 2, 3 and 4, and stopped only around lunchtime on the 5th. Just on January 5, at around 3 p.m., I returned from Modena and decided (oh the madness of youth, senile insanity!) to look at Bologna from above. Alas, the air was so saturated with moisture that the photographs turned out gloomy and unsuccessful, and I myself was chilled at the top. True, there were many such fools, and this served as considerable consolation)))
So, let's explore Bologna from above.

Turned his back towards you cathedral San Pietro. We will go there again, although of all the Bologna churches I have seen, the cathedral has left the smallest

In front of you is the main square of Bologna - Piazza Maggiore. To the right of it are two magnificent examples of the Middle Ages - Palazzo Podesta and Palazzo Enzo. To the left of the square rises another symbol of Bologna - the Basilica of San Petronio (yes, with an unfinished facade)

Another look at San Petronio. And in front of him the dome of the Church of Santa Maria della Vita blatantly creeps into the frame.

But in the fog two palazzos Podesta and Enzo are visible:

The most bitter disappointment of the trip was the Basilica of Madonna di San Luca on the hill. On the afternoon of January 2, I hoped to see Bologna from there, but there was such fog there that literally nothing was visible 20 meters away. However, I'll tell you about this later. As you can see, on January 4th the fog is still there, on the mountain and on the mountain...

And this is the monastery of Santo Stefano.

Well, now let's go down and travel back in time. So, here we are again on January 2, it is raining, but the persistent author stands on the porch of the Basilica of San Petronio and photographs Piazza Maggiore.

Before you is Palazzo Accursio (named after the original owner - the famous Bolognese glossator) or Palazzo Communale (XIII-XVII centuries)

Two photographs show in parts the Palazzo Podestà (XIII-XV centuries), initially the Bolognese Podestà lived here, and then the local lords of Bentivoglio. Behind this palazzo is another - Palazzo Enzo; we saw all this from the Asinelli tower.

Palazzo Banchi (XVI century)

Between the two palazzi Accursio and Podesta there is another square - Piazza Nettuno, on which stands the fountain of the same name. The Fountain of Neptune was made in 1563-1565 according to the design of Tommaso Laureti, and Neptune himself was sculpted by Giambologna.

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