this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
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Today I Learned

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[–] jaschen306@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

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.

[–] Flames5123@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

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.

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm sure it's an aerial image from that time

[–] 87Six@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Yea that's why it's low rez, the government pigeons were still in development

[–] ValeCrafter@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

It appears to be a wooden model. The image appeared in this blog post from 2022. At the end of the blog post, there is the wooden model. https://thepastabbatical.substack.com/p/the-towers-of-bologna

[–] PonyOfWar@pawb.social 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Pretty sure it's just a close-up photo of this model reconstruction from 1917. This article contains a higher-res version of the photo where you can see that it's just the roughly painted model houses making it look somewhat AI-like.

Yeah linking to a Wikipedia article.But throwing in random AI art is frustrating. This picture is not on the Wikipedia page.

[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 78 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

At least we know why they're married now.

[–] BilSabab@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Did we have an Assassin's Creed about that?

[–] witty_username@feddit.nl 84 points 1 day ago (3 children)

"The reasons for the construction of so many towers are not clear. One hypothesis is that the richest families used them for offensive/defensive purposes during the period of the investiture Controversy"

[–] mech@feddit.org 81 points 1 day ago (2 children)

My guess is it was about who has the longest one.

[–] clif@lemmy.world 42 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] ugo@feddit.it 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don’t need a source to believe it. Humans are humans, and rich fucks always want to one up each other. Be it via who has the biggest rocket, mansion, boat, or, in the 12th century, tower.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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

[–] teft@piefed.social 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago

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!

[–] teft@piefed.social 15 points 1 day ago

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 28 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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

[–] clif@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

I choose to believe this one.

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

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Nah, they just used them to show off. My tower is bigger than yours.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] vonxylofon@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Keeping up with the Giovannis.

[–] Zer0_F0x@lemmy.world 69 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

So my Age of Empires build strategy was historically accurate

[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

So is fast castle.

Just look what the Normans did to stabilise England.

[–] Unpigged@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago

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.

[–] quetzaldilla@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Clearly the work of wizards.

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.world 3 points 1 day ago

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

[–] EvacuateSoul@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

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.

[–] whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Steeplejacks, but pretty much the same thing

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[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago

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

[–] qarbone@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

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

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

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

[–] BrokenGlepnir@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (14 children)

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.xyz 5 points 1 day ago

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.

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[–] dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 day ago

Sounds like bologna to me.

[–] BayKek@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The present past youtube channel has a video on this: https://youtu.be/ikg3-GQLg3g

Thanks for sharing.

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