Torri e palazzi medievali del centro storico di Alba

Alba's medieval quarter still follows the Roman street grid, and above it stand the brick survivors of the town that nicknamed itself the city of a hundred towers. Towers, porticos and palaces along Via Cavour and the old Via Maestra preserve the fabric of this historic quarter.

Why it matters

Communal Alba was a town of rival families who built towers for defence and prestige, earning the traditional name "città delle cento torri". Few now keep their full height; many end abruptly at roof level or survive only as stubs inside later houses. Walking the centre is therefore an exercise in reading a compressed skyline: the medieval town lies layered over the Roman castrum, with Via Vittorio Emanuele II — the historic Via Maestra — running as the cardo and Via Cavour as the decumanus.

What to notice

Piazza Risorgimento contains the Torre Bonino at the corner of Via Maestra, with a stone string-course and round-headed openings. On Via Cavour, the Torre Astesiano is distinguished by a double decorative lozenge. Further along, Torre Paruzza is joined to Palazzo Paruzza, while the lowered corner tower is known as the tower della Farmacia. The Loggia dei Mercanti of Casa Sacco and fragments of tower masonry in courtyards and facades also reveal the medieval streetscape.

Context and history

The towers belong to the 12th- and 13th-century communal town, when fortified family houses crowded the Roman grid and symbolised each clan's standing. As the commune consolidated, many towers were reduced in height or absorbed into adjoining buildings, which is why the modern centre mixes full-height survivors with truncated shafts. The city's official tourism portal presents the towers and palaces as part of the historic urban fabric: a texture of courtyards, porticos and architectural traces between the medieval streets. Three of the survivors — the Sineo, Bonino and Astesiano towers — still group around the cathedral square, monuments to families who competed with the wealthy merchants of Asti itself, and Via Cavour's opening stretch keeps its medieval texture of courtyards and porticos better than any other street in town. The Palazzo Comunale on Piazza Risorgimento, already present in the 14th century though much altered later, completes the civic picture opposite the cathedral.