CIVIC TOWER

The Torre Civica is without doubt considered as the symbol of the city by the local people. Probably built on the site of a previous temple dedicated to the goddess Ceres, the tower dates back to the 13th century, and underwent numerous modifications over the centuries. It is made of red brick, interrupted halfway up by a terrace that projects slightly over the piazza, above which is the all essential clock, while a white roof lantern added in around 1645 completes the tower.
At the beginning of the thirteen-hundreds the tower was home to the first bank in the town ‘Monte dei Pegni’. The town council took back possession in 1447 raising the height of the structure and in 1535 they included the large bell that marked the political and civil life of the town. From 1600 the tower fell victim to several unfortunate accidents that modified the original structure. In 1612 the clock and bell collapsed onto the nearby tower house, in 1643 the bell room and the whole structure caught fire following a firework display to celebrate the arrival in the city of the Savoy dukes. The bell we see today was inserted in 1949 and weighs seventeen hundred kilograms.