• clif@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5 months

        That was actually one of the reasons I learned. The rich families wanted to show how rich they were so they built towers. Then other rich families built their own, preferably bigger, to show that they had a bigger penis more money.

        Are there any facts to back that up? I don’t know. I heard it ~25 years ago and I don’t remember the source. Though, I was in Bologna around that time so possibly from a tour or possibly from some drunk guy at a party.

          • HugeNerd@lemmy.caEnglish
            5 months

            Or horse. I wonder what the 12th century equivalent of a modified tailpipe was?

              • HugeNerd@lemmy.caEnglish
                5 months

                Those are words I’ve never seen, thanks. I guess I can see that, imagine some smelly poor showing up on a nag in a burlap caparison then some medieval influencer on a Percheron with a purple silk caparison pulls up alongside? All the fair maidens faint right there!

        • Eq0@literature.cafeEnglish
          5 months

          Take also meant more unstable, so there was a component of an engineering challenge.

      • teft@piefed.socialEnglish
        5 months

        It’s not about height, it’s about girth. You need a properly wide base and taper in order to please house so many soldiers.

    • kbal@fedia.io
      5 months

      Another hypothesis is that the city was taken over by wizards.

      • SkybreakerEngineer@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5 months

        Hey, just because they use magic doesn’t mean they’re wizards. The biggest investiture tower, Urithiru, is actually associated with paladins

      • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
        5 months

        Yeah, somebody of influence built one, and the rest of the city that could afford to just followed.

        The TikTok Stanley Cup craze of the 1100s.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      5 months

      Somewhere in an alternative dimension where they’re not fictional, Dagwood is very confused by his sudden boner and Blondie’s dinner guests are scandalized.

    • Tattorack@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5 months

      So is fast castle.

      Just look what the Normans did to stabilise England.

    • I Cast Fist@programming.devEnglish
      5 months

      local superstition suggests that those who climb the Tower of Asinelli to the top will never finish their studies—bad luck for students, but good news for those who never tire of learning!

      That does sound a lot like wizards

      • tino@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5 months

        I remember going up there with a friend when we were in study trip! oh wait…

    • EvacuateSoul@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5 months

      You laugh, but people who believe the Tartarian Empire conspiracy theory point to this as one of the things lost after the “mud floods” lol.

  • Optional@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5 months

    Obviously they were there to guard the cost-saving but insecurely designed trench leading to the small exhaust port.

  • TooManyFoods@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5 months

    Seems like it would be a nightmare to take them down. Demolition back then must have been pretty methodical, taking it apart from the top to bottom.

    • ranzispa@mander.xyzEnglish
      5 months

      Much easier than that: just wait for a while and there won’t be no tower anymore.

      Either it falls down on its own or people come around to pick a few bricks and stones to build their own house.

        • Blumpkinhead@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5 months

          Are you suggesting that this isn’t a real photograph of 12th century Bologna??

            • acockworkorange@mander.xyzEnglish
              5 months

              Do you see a direction without buildings there so it can topple over safely? That’s the main issue.

              These towers are significantly different from a mud brick stack, too. The fact that they’re square is important. They’re also built with different materials: instead of a lattice of uniform bricks and mortar, they are built with two layers of masonry filled with assorted stones and mortar. Not the kind of building we’re used to demolish, making it harder to predict.

          • Lojcs@piefed.socialEnglish
            5 months

            I don’t know? But it’s definitely easier than what the picture in the post suggests

  • Flames5123@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    5 months

    Is this an AI image? Stop that.

    I say that because some towers are leaning weirdly, and some windows are very diffused. It’s too low res to be to an “artistic renderin,” and it’s just looks messy (as an image). I’ve seen better renders of the towers of Bologna.

    If it’s not AI, I’ll across out the top bir. I’m sorry I’m just super skeptical nowadays.

  • Sam_Bass@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5 months

    And they were never able to replicate that design for the meat rolls

    • acockworkorange@mander.xyzEnglish
      5 months

      You’re thinking of the structures that used underground water and winds to get evaporative cooling in Iran, the Windcatchers.

    • Unpigged@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      5 months

      Nope. Nice idea but these were status symbols most of all, and had a bit of defensive use.

  • jaschen306@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    5 months

    Visited Bologna about 8 years ago and visited these towers. There was a ton of supports at the base to keep it from falling down and even then it was still leaning pretty hard.

    I met some Italians that doesn’t care about it and think it’s a waste of money.

  • qarbone@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5 months

    The only Italian town of towers I recognize is “San Gimignano”. Shoutout to AC2.

  • Unpigged@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    5 months

    There’s San Gimignano left of you want to get a real life feel of how it was. The town lies on an important route and local families showed off by showing their massive dongs of towers.