Bologna is known as ‘the red’ in recognition of its left-wing politics, ‘the fat’ for its food culture and ‘the learned’ having, the Bolognese boast, the oldest continuously-used university in the world.
‘The Red’ could equally apply to the red roofs of the city centre.
Pictures of Bologna often include images of its two towers.
The Two Towers
By the end of the twelfth century there were over 200 such towers in Bologna, but today only 20 remain, including the Asinelli Tower, just under 100 metres in height, and the shorter Garisenda Tower, just 48 metres tall.
The taller tower seems to be leaning here, but in fact the shorter of the two has the biggest lean.
Built by wealthy families for defence, the towers soon showed a propensity to lean, so much so, that the Garisenda Tower was shortened by twelve metres in the fourteenth century, in an attempt to put a stop to the sideways movement.
Today the Garisenda Tower’s lean is 4.0 degrees (beating Pisa’s Leaning Tower by 0.1 degree) but is it not open to the public.
Garisenda Tower on the right.
We climbed all 498 steps to the top of Asinelli Tower today (which itself leans 1.3 degrees off centre) and looked out from the top.
View from the top. Workmen can be seen inspecting Garisenda Tower (in the foreground) in a cherry picker. Looks an easier way to get up than climb all those stairs.
The church with the unfinished facade (the upper half having bare brick) is San Petronio Basilica. Set in a huge square, it looks important enough to be Bologna’s cathedral, but it isn’t. View of the steps on the way down. The walls were thicker towards the base. They were about two and a half metres thick at this point. A feature of a lot of old buildings here are holes which are visible on the outside. I’ve read that these were for scaffolding when the buildings were under construction.‘Holes’ in the masonry of another old building in Bologna, but these seem to be backed by another row of bricks. The holes in the Asinelli Tower are open. Convenient for the pigeons.
My husband, Mark, and I have just sold our house and are taking a year out to have an adventure before we settle down to retirement. We decided on a journey through Italy as it has the perfect combination of good weather, interesting history, great wine and wonderful ice-cream! As we will be starting our journey in January, we are beginning in the very south of the country.
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4 thoughts on “Ascending Asinelli Tower”
the view from the tower is fantastic. wish you continued enjoyment in Bologna
David G
Tortoise Travel 
the view from the tower is fantastic. wish you continued enjoyment in Bologna
David G
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Thanks, David.
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You’ve got a better head for heights than I have!!! Looks amazing.
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I normally don’t like going to the edge of tall buildings, but you are very ‘caged in’ and so feel quite safe.
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