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Two families
The towers may have been a contest between two families
The two leaning towers were built between 1109 and 1119 by the families they are named for, the Asinelli and the Garisenda. They may have been a competition to show which family was more powerful, but the scarcity of documents makes this uncertain.
The bridge
A wooden footbridge once joined the two towers
In the 14th century the city used the Asinelli Tower as a prison and small stronghold. A wooden construction about 30 metres up was joined to the Garisenda by an aerial footbridge, which was destroyed in a fire in 1398.
Shortened
The Garisenda was cut down to 48 metres because the ground gave way
The Garisenda was originally about 60 metres high, but was lowered in the 14th century because a yielding of the ground left it slanting and dangerous. Today it is 48 metres high, with a lean of 3.2 metres. Dante cited it in the Divine Comedy.
A lookout
Scientists dropped things from the Asinelli, and volunteers watched from it
Giovanni Battista Riccioli in 1640 and Giovanni Battista Guglielmini in the 1700s used the Asinelli Tower for experiments on the motion of heavy bodies and the Earth's rotation. Between 1943 and 1945 four volunteers manned its top to direct rescue operations during bombing attacks.
Sealed off
In 2023 the Garisenda was sealed off for fear it was tilting too far
In October 2023 the city of Bologna sealed off the Garisenda after fears that it was tilting too far. On 2 December 2023 it announced that the tower was in danger of collapsing, and began a barrier to contain debris. Work to prevent a collapse is expected to take at least 10 years.
Day 2, morning
Next is Museo della Storia di Bologna.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Two Towers, Bologna, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.