The Torre Troyana ("Troyan Tower", after the family Troya that built it) is a tower in

Asti Asti ( , ; ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of 74,348 inhabitants (1–1–2021) located in the Italy, Italian region of Piedmont, about east of Turin, in the plain of the Tanaro, Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and ...

, Italy, and one of the main symbols of the city. It is a ''

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

'', or freestanding bell tower, and in the 19th century it was used to signal hours during daylight.

Building

It is 44 metres high and is square in plan with 5.90-metre sides. It ends with Ghibelline

merlon A merlon is the solid, upright section of a battlement (a crenellated parapet) in medieval architecture or fortifications. Merlons are sometimes pierced by narrow, vertical embrasures, or tooth-like slits designed for observation and fire. The sp ...

s surmounted by a metal pinnacle which covers a clock.

History

The basement was built in late 12th century. The original client is unknown, but the construction remained incomplete. In the first half of the 13th century, the powerful family of bankers Troja (later Troya) bought the unfinished tower and resumed the building; the tower was then finished somewhere between 1260 and 1280. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

it was a common practice for powerful and rich families to build a tall tower to show off their wealth: during the history there have been about 120 towers in Asti, of which several still remain. Following the decline of Troja family, in the second half of 14th century the tower was annexed to the nearby building, which was the seat of the government of the city, headed by the Dukes of Orléans. Later in 1422

Filippo Maria Visconti Filippo Maria Visconti (3 September 1392 – 13 August 1447) was the duke of Duchy of Milan, Milan from 1412 to 1447. Reports stated that he was "paranoid", but "shrewd as a ruler." He went to war in the 1420s with Romagna, Republic of Florenc ...

moved the seat of government to another building and the former one was assigned to the use of the town council. A clock was then placed in the tower and in 1470 the roof and the steeple were added. The seat of the city council was later moved again, but the tower kept its public function. In 1560,

Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy Emmanuel Philibert (; ; 8 July 1528 – 30 August 1580), known as (; "Ironhead", because of his military career), was Duke of Savoy and ruler of the Savoyard states from 17 August 1553 until his death in 1580. He is notably remembered for resto ...

finally donated the tower to the city council. The tower was restored in 1905.

Bell

bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

was first placed in the tower in early 15th century, but the current one dates back to the 16th century and is the second most ancient bell in

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

and the most ancient that still marks the hours, the older one being preserved in a museum. According to some old annals, the bell was created in 1531. It has a diameter and a height of , weighs and its intonation is in the note of E. An inscription in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

is present, which gives information about the origin of the bell: {{Verse translation , lang=la, TEMPORA HORIS OLIM DESIGNANS OB BELLUM IN MACHINAM VERSAM NUNC AD OPUS MEUM RESTITUOR. MCCCCCXXXI. , Once I signified hours. Because of the war I was transformed into a machine. Now I am restored to my original duty. 1531. In the Middle Ages it was a common practice to use bells as a source of iron to forge cannons in wartime, when it was necessary to quicken their production. The inscription states that the iron of a cannon was used to forge the bell instead, probably after the war ended.

Building

History

Bell

See also