The Torre dei Gualandi (also known as the Muda Tower) is a former tower in

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

, central

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, now included in the Palazzo dell'Orologio. It is located on the north part of the ''

Piazza dei Cavalieri Piazza dei Cavalieri () is a landmark in Pisa, Italy, and the second main square of the city. This square was the political centre in medieval Pisa. After the middle of 16th century the square became the headquarters of the Order of the Knights ...

''. The original tower was located on the right side of the present building. Gualandi was the name of a Pisan family that owned the tower in the 13th century. Pisa

Ugolino della Gherardesca Ugolino della Gherardesca (March 1289), Count of Donoratico, was an Italian nobleman, politician and naval commander. He was frequently accused of treason and features prominently in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. Biography In the 13th century, the ...

, his sons and two grandsons were

immured Immurement (; ), also called immuration or live entombment, is a form of imprisonment, usually until death, in which someone is placed within an enclosed space without exits. This includes instances where people have been enclosed in extremely ti ...

in the tower and starved to death in the 13th century.

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

, his contemporary, wrote about Gherardesca in his masterpiece ''

The Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest wor ...

''.

External links

Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa: Palazzo dell'Orologio

* ttp://www.pisaonline.it/ulisse/eng/manoscritti.htm PISA History, Count Ugolino Della Gherardesca, Storia Dante - Localita Storia Eventi Cronaca Medio Evo News provincia Pisa Toscana. Former buildings and structures in Italy Former towers Towers in Pisa {{Italy-struct-stub pt:Palazzo dell'Orologio#História e Arquitectura