Galluzzi Tower
Torre Galluzzi and its overlooking courtyard are a few steps from the central Via D'Azeglio and Lucio Dalla's house, but also a short distance from Piazza Maggiore and Piazza Galvani. About 31 metres high, the tower was built at the behest of the Bolognese noble family of the same name in 1257.
The Galluzzi court was (and still is) a small island in the heart of the city, which also played a defensive role for the family. The possessions of the Carbonesi, a Ghibelline faction and therefore bitter enemy of the Galluzzi Guelphs, were located near the tower. Next to the courtyard we can see the oratory of San Giovanni Battista dei Fiorentini, built on the site of the ancient Galluzzi church, Santa Maria Rotonda. The interior of the tower is now occupied by shops and restaurants.
The history of Torre Galluzzi
Like the Catalani and many other noble families of medieval Bologna, the Galluzzi family
owned several towers. Only the one we see today has come down to us, and it is perhaps the one of more recent construction. This is shown by the arch above the entrance door, which unlike the other Bolognese towers is ogival and not round.
Regarding the entrance, the current door facing the courtyard does not correspond to the structure's original access point. In medieval times the owners used the upper door, located in the centre of the tower. This shows that it was once connected to the Galluzzi house by means of a raised construction, probably made of wood.
The tower's defensive purpose is also underlined by the thick basement of the structure, a good 3 metres high, a sign that a tower even taller than the one we see today was originally planned.
The legend of the Galluzzi and Catalani
Not far from the Galluzzi Tower is another tower, the
Catalani Tower, to which it is linked by a
legend of love and death that symbolises the infighting between the Guelphs and Ghibellines that inflamed the city in the 13th century.
The story goes that a young member of the Catalani, belonging to the Ghibelline faction, asked the family to raise his tower so that he could admire Virginia Galluzzi, of the Guelph faction. The two fell in love and married in great secrecy so as not to incur the wrath of rival families, but were soon discovered and forced to a sad end: Virginia was forced to commit suicide by her own hand, while her groom was killed.
