The Torre Druso, more properly the Treuenstein tower (in German Gscheibter Turm or Treuenstein), is a cylindrical tower in the Gries district of Bolzano: the surviving keep of a vanished castle.
What to see
The tower is a little over twenty metres high and has an internal diameter of a little over four metres; at its base are traces of an enclosure wall. It stands out for its swallowtail merlons and narrow arrow slits. Next to it is the chapel of Saint Oswald (Oswaldkapelle), also of the 13th century. The Tudor-style manor seen beside the tower was built in 1862 by the then owner, Karl Pieschl of Berlin, to a design by the Bolzano city architect Sebastian Altmann, presumably on the remains of the old castle.
The Italian name comes from a 17th-century tradition, by the Franciscan father Ferdinand Troyer of Bolzano (Cronica der Stadt Bozen, 1648), according to which the tower was a fortification built by Drusus the Elder; in reality it consists of the visible remains of the vanished castle of Treuenstein, built by the family of that name. On the date the sources differ: one gives the early 13th century, with the name Trowenstein cited in 1231, another a building commissioned by Count Meinhard of Tyrol between 1276 and 1278 for his loyal vassal Friedrich, to which it owes its name, Treuenstein, «loyal stone». After the family died out the castle changed hands several times and fell into ruin, until, already in the 15th century, only the main tower was left. In 1497 a document of Maximilian I calls it for the first time zum Scheyblingen turn, «round tower», hence today's German name.
Visiting
The tower is at Gries, in Bolzano; the sources consulted do not say whether it can be visited inside or on what terms, so access should be checked.
Our editors' tip
Look at the top: the swallowtail merlons and the narrow arrow slits are what remains of the keep, while the English-style manor next to the tower dates from the 19th century.
