Due Torri: Asinelli and Garisenda Towers

Why is it significant?

Tilt your head back and marvel at the breathtaking silhouette of the Due Torri, the two soaring medieval leaning towers that form the undeniable symbol of Bologna.

Key Facts

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Tilt your head back and marvel at the breathtaking silhouette of the Due Torri, the two soaring medieval leaning towers that form the undeniable symbol of Bologna. Erected between 1109 and 1119 by rival aristocratic families during a competitive tower-building frenzy that once dotted the city with over one hundred skyscraper-like brick towers, these structures served as defensive strongholds, lookout posts, and unmistakable statements of dynastic wealth. The taller tower, the Torre degli Asinelli, soars to a staggering height of ninety-seven point two meters with an overhang of over two meters, making it the tallest original medieval tower surviving in Europe. Beside it leans the Torre Garisenda, rising forty-eight meters with a terrifying tilt of over three point two meters, truncated in the mid-fourteenth century because its shifting foundations threatened to collapse into the crowded streets below. Over the centuries, these towering monuments have stood as proud sentinels of the Bolognese skyline, withstanding devastating lightning strikes, earthquakes, and fierce medieval factional clashes.

Remember that Dante Alighieri was so mesmerized by the dramatic lean of the Garisenda tower that he immortalized it in Canto thirty-one of the Inferno, comparing its leaning silhouette beneath passing clouds to the giant Antaeus bending down to lift him and Virgil into the icy depths of hell. A commemorative marble plaque bearing Dante's poetic verses remains chiseled into the base of the tower.

To reach the dizzying summit of the Asinelli tower, adventurous visitors must climb four hundred and ninety-eight narrow wooden stairs spiraling through its hollow brick interior, rewarding the brave with a 360-degree panoramic vista across Bologna's red-tiled rooftops to the rolling Apennine hills.

Inspect the selenite stone blocks reinforcing the tower base: mined from local gypsum quarries, this translucent crystal rock absorbed the tremendous pressure of the masonry for over nine centuries.

Walk southeast along Strada Maggiore until you reach the ancient timber portico of Casa Isolani.