In mediaeval times, the city of Bologna in Northern Italy must have looked not unlike what Manhattan appears today. Hundreds of high-rising towers stood against the sky overlooking a sea of red-tiled rooftops. These towers were status symbols built by the city’s rich families to demonstrate their power and importance.

Between the 12th and the 13th century, Bologna had as many as 180 towers, possibly more. In the 13th century, many towers were taken down or demolished, and others simply collapsed. The surviving ones were later utilized in different ways, serving as prison, city tower, shop or residential building. The last demolitions took place in the 1917 when two towers were taken down for an ambitious, but retrospectively unfortunate, restructuring plan for the city.

A computer generated 3D model of mediaeval Bologna. Photo credit: www.cineca.it