The Two Towers, Asinelli and Garisenda

In the Middle Ages Bologna was a forest of towers: scholars believe there were as many as a hundred, built by the wealthiest families as defence and as a sign of power. Today about twenty remain, and the most famous are these two, in Piazza di Porta Ravegnana, where the roads to Ravenna, Florence and the sea crossed.

The Torre degli Asinelli is 97.20 metres tall and has a staircase of 498 steps inside. Tradition has it that it was built between 1109 and 1119 by the knight Pietro Asinelli; it leans westward by over two metres and is the tallest leaning tower in Italy.

The Garisenda is lower, 48 metres, but much more crooked. Originally it reached about sixty metres: already in the fourteenth century the ground had given way and the tower was cut down for safety. Dante knew it well and in the Inferno uses it to describe the giant Antaeus bending down, verses you'll find written on a plaque at its base.

Since 2023 the Garisenda has been under observation and protected by consolidation works: for this reason the climb up the Asinelli is also closed and the surrounding area is fenced off. The towers can be viewed from outside; for the view from above today you climb the Torre dell'Orologio in Piazza Maggiore.