The Torre Civica stands on piazza Vische, has a square base and is built of exposed brick. It covers an area of 50.41 square metres and reaches 30.70 metres in height; the structure has fourteenth-century features, recognisable in the double-opening arches of the eight large windows, slightly pointed in profile, which appear only in the upper part.
What to see
Inside, the masonry vault exists only on the lower floor: as you climb, the floors are no longer massive but made of wooden beams and boards, and the wooden stairs narrow as they go. At the top hangs the bell, twenty-five quintals, given to Crescentino in 1958 by the parish priest of San Grisante, don Giuseppe Bianco.
Visiting
The tower was not born as a civic tower: it belonged to the seigneurial palace of the Tizzoni, the dynasty that held Crescentino, and it is the part of that complex still standing. The palace was burned during the revolt, and the tower stayed where it was, passing to the town.
Our editors' tip
The bell now at the top is not the one that matters. The one that matters is another, kept in the town hall: it is the bell that in February 1529 set off the armed insurrection against the Tizzoni counts. Ask to see it, because it is the object this whole story turns on.