Today, the bricklayers had moved the last battlements to the wall ring of his roof terrace. Work on his new palace had finally finished.
The rich patrician Antonello proudly looked high over the rooftops of the city. So he had done it again. His gender finally possessed the city's tallest building again – after long years of humiliation by the hated neighbouring family –. Even higher than the cathedral! More than a Canna * higher! What should actually be stopped!
Antonello proudly rubbed his fists whether his ingenious idea of subverting the building regulations. But he had shown it to the priests!
It was the case that the clergy had had influence the height of new city palaces, since the churches disappeared behind the towers of the secular palaces. That's blasphemy!
Ridiculous!! But what should you do! Officially, no one in the city wanted to get on with the clergy. All the influential families of the place had therefore – teeth crunching – obliged to accept a cap on future residential towers in the city. No residential tower should therefore have more than 5 storeys. These were the new building regulations!
Antonello grinned once more while his gaze fell down the alleyways of his city. He had stuck to the collusion! His new palace had only 5 floors!
But had the bullet height been prescribed! Ha! Just not!
And so he had every floor built a little higher than usual by his cunning builder: The regulations were complied with, but his palace was higher than anyone else in the city! No one could expect such a cunning!
His family's reputation was assured for years!
So – or even a little different – have been in the 12th century. And 13. In the 19th century many rich nobles and merchants thought: They rebuilt old defensive towers intended for defense or built new buildings. At that time, however, these were usually no longer used for the defense, but more and more often for the demonstration of one's own power.
It was true that the higher the tower, the greater the reputation of the family.
Particularly well known are the gender towers of Bologna and, of course, those of the Tuscan village of San Gimignano, which is therefore also called "Manhattan of the Middle Ages."
But if you visit the old town of Albenga, you will have to admit that the attribute "Little Manhattan" also applies to this beautiful, Ligurian city.
* A canna equals 2.5 passeti = 5 bracci = 2.91 meters