Section 01 of 05

Towers

Private towers went up because families could, and came down when communes decided they had gone far enough. Four entries: what is still standing, why it stayed up, and the statute that capped the height.

4 entries

• 01San GimignanoFourteen towers survive of the seventy-odd that once stood; they are a family arms race in stone, and the commune eventually legislated a maximum height to stop it.
• 02Torre GrossaThe tallest survivor, built by the commune itself, which is the point — the public tower had to out-top the private ones.
• 03Bologna and its leaning pairTwo towers from perhaps two hundred, and what happened to the rest.
• 04Why a tower at allRefuge, storage and display at once — and a poor military structure by any measure.

Every entry in this section is also in the register, ordered by number.