Torre Civica di Savigliano

The brick tower on Piazza Santarosa is the recognised symbol of Savigliano, a medieval family stronghold that became the city's bell and clock tower. Six centuries of rebuilding are stacked inside it, from Guelph faction politics to a great bell cast in 1949.

Why it matters

The tower's history reflects the medieval development of Savigliano. It began in the thirteenth century as a defensive tower raised by the Nobili d'Ospizio, a family of the Guelph faction, when noble towers crowded Savigliano's skyline. In 1303 the commune entrusted the tower to the founders of the Casana, the town's pawn bank, who raised it and completed the exposed-brick body that survives today. From fortress to finance to civic timekeeping, the tower's ownership tells the story of the commune itself.

What to notice

The tower's fabric records several distinct phases. The lower brick mass is the 1303 elevation; the upper part dates from 1535, replacing a spire of 1465; and the elegant rendered bell chamber is a reconstruction of 1644, built after a fire during festivities for the Sabaud dukes' visit had destroyed part of the earlier cell the year before. A first clock is documented as early as 1387, and the tower has kept the city's public time ever since — with mishaps: in 1612 the clock and bell crashed onto the adjacent house, prompting immediate repairs, and further work on the walls and clock mechanism followed in 1624 under Ercole Biga. The current great bell, weighing some seventeen quintals, was set in place in 1949, recast after the wartime years.

Context and history

The tower's institutional history runs from private defence to public property. After the Casana period, the commune reasserted control in 1447 and added to the structure, and the city has kept it since. Its bells mark the rhythms of Savigliano's civic and religious life: the major bell was recast in 1535, again after the 1643 fire in 1644, and finally in its present form in 1949, each casting a snapshot of the city's fortunes. The 1612 accident — clock and bell falling onto a neighbouring house — is a reminder that the tower was an actively used machine, not a monument, and repairs were carried out at public expense as essential infrastructure. The tower stands on Piazza Santarosa, named for Santorre di Santarosa, the Risorgimento figure born in Savigliano, which places this medieval structure at the centre of the town's later civic geography.