Follow us on
Search

Signal Tower (Torre dei Segnali o delle Vedette)

Address Via Castello, 14030 Viarigi AT, Italia
Tel 0141 611050
Fax 0141 611277
Email info@comune.viarigi.at.it
Facebook link

Highlights

Built in about 1320 on the ruins of the ancient castle, it was used as a defense and communication building.

Square in plan (5.80 meters per side), it stands 26.5 meters high.

Its present appearance is the result of layers of restoration work, the most important in the 19th century with a brick facing.


• Availability: can be visited every last Sunday of the month from April to October.


• History

In the period around 1320 the construction of the Torre dei Segnali of Viarigi was built, on the ruins of the ancient castle, when the territory of Viarigi was returned to the Marquis Teodoro di Monferrato by Matteo Visconti and became, as a border area of the marquisate, an integral part of a defense and communication network, based on a system of towers and points clearly visible from the surrounding hills (also including Montemagno, Grana, Casorzo, Grazzano, Moncalvo and Rinco, to the north, Vignale, Carnagna, Lu, San Salvatore to the south).

The tower, linked to the property of the fiefdom of Viarigi, underwent several changes of ownership to nobles of the Marquisate of Monferrato, from Alberto di Solero (1431), to the Counts Biglione of Viarigi (1772), while, by the time of the last feudal lord, Viarigi had already passed to the House of Savoy, with the Treaty of Vienna in 1703.

It was precisely the Biglione counts who were the ancestors of the poet Agostino della Sala Spada, born in Calliano in 1842, who sang in his verses of the pleasant hills of Monferrato and the "quadra torre, sovra l'arduo colle" that was so dear to him.

With the French Revolution and subsequent Napoleonic occupation, the fiefs were suppressed and the Biglione family had to cede their entire property to the Jewish family of Sacerdote Vita, a merchant from Casale Monferrato.

In about the mid-1800s, the tower and adjoining area passed to the Ferraris family of Viarigi, who held it until 1939 when, following public auction, it was taken over by Cav. Aldo Todini. It remained in the Todini family until 1998, when a Milanese benefactor, Eng. Pietro Bellettato, purchased it for starvation gift to the City of Viarigi.

The Signal Tower was declared a monumental building in 1908 and, subsequently, placed under bond under Law 1089/1939. Later, it was transcribed in favor of the Ministry of Public Education on 11/04/1943.

The construction, as we see it today, is not in the original facies of the late Middle Ages, but is the result of stratifications of interventions after the original construction. The most important of these, which occurred around the middle of the nineteenth century, coincides with the construction of a brick cladding on the four sides of the tower, in order to cover and restore the existing fifth wall. Minor interventions have been implemented more recently: for example the replacement, in 1967, of internal wooden stairs, with steel stairs - now precarious - by the volunteers of the Pro Loco of Viarigi.

Unfortunately, this last intervention, implemented to make the tower usable by the community, was more harmful than the construction that, left unguarded and open to everyone, in the '70s and '80s of the last century, suffered vandalism, with the consequent destruction of the highest landing (the cause was probably the throwing of bricks from the battlements through the access chimney at the top).

Today the Tower is completely renovated and can be visited on the last Sunday of each month, from April to October.

It is also possible to visit the Tower outside the scheduled dates by making a request to info@comune.viarigi.at.it

The Municipality of Viarigi adheres to Castelli Aperti, an event to enhance and promote the rich cultural, artistic and historical heritage of Piedmont's castles, gardens, museums, palaces, villas and villages from spring to autumn.

Castelli Aperti was born thanks to the will of the Regione Piemonte with the Provinces of Asti, Alessandria and Cuneo and, today, has extended to the whole Piedmont territory and also to the Region of Liguria.


• Building typology and building characters

The tower has a square plan, with a base of about 5.80 meters, and rises to an overall height of 26.5 meters.

The terminal part is slightly projecting, with four arched comici (an ornamental motif common to many buildings of the 'era, such as the coeval towers of San Salvatore, Lu and Rinco, erected by Theodore II Paleologus) crowned by Ghibelline "swallowtail" battlements (evidence of loyalty to the empire).

The masonry is of solid brick, with an average thickness of 1.20 meters, and has, towards the outside, a facing (already mentioned), made at the end of the 19th century, with a thickness of one brick and some small windows, at different heights.

Walls appear, at a first evaluation, in good condition, but the judgment is due to the fact that the nineteenth-century cladding constitutes a covering film. Although the arrangement of bricks, in the area without covering, is somewhat haphazard, the presence of "sack" masonry does not seem likely.

The bricks have rather unusual dimensions: 25×7×14 cm; they,in some areas, have become detached, posing a danger of falling.

The roof of the tower is flat and constitutes a practical terrace and, at one time, reachable by a series of internal wooden staircases that connected five masonry landings. Last part of the route consists of a circular (chimney-like) conduit containing a ladder of the seafaring type.

Paving of the terrace consists of terracotta tiles.

The vaults of the tower are barrel-vaulted, with bricks arranged flat and cut, partly collapsed and currently not walkable.

The tower has a single access, about 4.4 meters high, in correspondence with what was once the terraces of the guardhouse.

To the side of the tower, built in adherence and without dents in the masonry, there is a guardhouse with a rectangular plan and no roof. It is made of brick and tuff masonry.

This building also has a square plan, with a side equal to 5.8 meters; the tuff courses are about 50 cm high, while the brick courses are about 12 cm high. 

The walls of the building end with a series of hanging arches. Unlike the bricks that cover the tower, the walls of the guardhouse are smaller (dimensions 5.5×12×24).

On the east wall there are two arched doors and on the west wall a window, also arched, of light of about 80 cm. The thickness of the masonry appears regular (about 50 cm). The vault, of the ribbed type, has completely collapsed, while only traces of the dentition remain in the walls.

The roofing of the guardhouse was of the flat type and constituted a terrace from which it was possible to access the entrance door to the tower.

The paving of the terrace was in terracotta, with an underlying layer of earthenware underlay. Some traces of the flooring are still present.

The interior flooring of the guardhouse is not currently visible.

Inside the guardhouse, there is a fireplace with hearth and a metal staircase, leaning against the east wall with an angled ramp, ending in a very deteriorated landing, also metal. This is the only current access to the tower.

This is the only current access to the tower.

Curious and interesting are the traces of a system of rainwater disposal “dug” into the sandstone blocks.

The entire structure is devoid of window frames and protection of any kind.


Insights

OroMonferrato
https://oromonferrato.visitlmr.it


Mondi medievali
https://www.mondimedievali.net/


GAL BMA - Gruppo di Azione Locale del Basso Monferrato Astigiano
https://www.monferratoastigiano.it/


Images source

Torre dei Segnali (4)
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=625775122922087&set=a.316393437193592




See also...


• Events in Viarigi


• Viarigi tourist guide


• Municipium, the App of your Municipality