The Tower is an ancient defensive structure built between 1340 and 1372 and located in the
southwestern area of the city, near the Castle of the Carrarese family, the family that ruled Padua from 1318 to 1405. In about two hundred meters you could find a defensive complex consisting of the Castle, the two defensive citadels (from the first, called “old”, the rescue started, i.e., a protected corridor along the course of the Bacchiglione river), the Soccorso tower in connection with the Porta Saracinesca which allowed to monitor the entrance river in the city. The tower was held with a control function at least until 1589.
southwestern area of the city, near the Castle of the Carrarese family, the family that ruled Padua from 1318 to 1405. In about two hundred meters you could find a defensive complex consisting of the Castle, the two defensive citadels (from the first, called “old”, the rescue started, i.e., a protected corridor along the course of the Bacchiglione river), the Soccorso tower in connection with the Porta Saracinesca which allowed to monitor the entrance river in the city. The tower was held with a control function at least until 1589.
The story goes on
Once it fulfilled its function as a defensive tower, it was rented, bought, and sold by various
historical figures who made various uses of it. In 1654 the Tower and the land surrounding it was purchased by the Canal di S. Barnaba family, an ancient Venetian lineage. A member of this illustrious family is credited with an atrocious crime: the killing of his pregnant wife with her fifth child. This fact of blood, which perhaps did not take place in the tower, however, gave the structure the dismal epithet of “Devil’s Tower”. In 1813 the land was sold by the Canal family to the lawyer Antonio Piazza who also rented the land further north with a vegetable garden and vineyard. This is how the great dream of this lover of history came true: the Tower and the Bastion became a privileged place for the collection of ancient inscriptions, paintings, finds and statues that must have remembered the great garden of the mythical Arcadia. In 1909 the area became the property of Monsignor Luigi Pellizzo, journalist, and founder of the Difesa del Popolo until after the First World War when it passed to the company Egidio Forcellini and then was bought by the municipality of Padua in 1938 and sold, in a few months, to the Montesi Sgaravatti family who had their residence built there based on a design by the rationalist architect Francesco Mansutti.
historical figures who made various uses of it. In 1654 the Tower and the land surrounding it was purchased by the Canal di S. Barnaba family, an ancient Venetian lineage. A member of this illustrious family is credited with an atrocious crime: the killing of his pregnant wife with her fifth child. This fact of blood, which perhaps did not take place in the tower, however, gave the structure the dismal epithet of “Devil’s Tower”. In 1813 the land was sold by the Canal family to the lawyer Antonio Piazza who also rented the land further north with a vegetable garden and vineyard. This is how the great dream of this lover of history came true: the Tower and the Bastion became a privileged place for the collection of ancient inscriptions, paintings, finds and statues that must have remembered the great garden of the mythical Arcadia. In 1909 the area became the property of Monsignor Luigi Pellizzo, journalist, and founder of the Difesa del Popolo until after the First World War when it passed to the company Egidio Forcellini and then was bought by the municipality of Padua in 1938 and sold, in a few months, to the Montesi Sgaravatti family who had their residence built there based on a design by the rationalist architect Francesco Mansutti.
The tower today
Between 2011 and 2012, major restoration works were started to transform the tower into an
accommodation facility and the Bastion into a place for events related to the tasting of wines and oil produced by the Rossi Chauvenet family in the Venetian and Apulian properties. The tower complex, a privileged place of events linked to men and women of the past, today wants to write its own history made up of conviviality and exchanges.
accommodation facility and the Bastion into a place for events related to the tasting of wines and oil produced by the Rossi Chauvenet family in the Venetian and Apulian properties. The tower complex, a privileged place of events linked to men and women of the past, today wants to write its own history made up of conviviality and exchanges.
