Torre dei Bolognesi - Museo di Nonantola | Nonantola

Torre dei Bolognesi - Museo di Nonantola

The tower, built in 1307 by the Bolognese after the conquest of Nonantola, stands 38.13 metres tall. When its original military function was no longer necessary, it was first used as a prison, then as a warehouse, and finally as a water tower.

Since 2007 it has housed the Museo di Nonantola, the Civic Museum. The Museum offers a historical exploration of the town and its community, in a journey back in time spread over four floors, from the contemporary era to prehistory. The ground floor houses an exhibition titled “The Jewish Children of Villa Emma in Nonantola: 1942-1943”; upstairs, visitors can journey through the history of the 1900s, the Partecipanza Agraria, the Middle Ages with the birth of the Monastery and the village, back to Roman times and Prehistory. From its panoramic viewpoint, visitors can admire the surrounding area in all directions.

Torre dei Bolognesi - Museo di Nonantola - FbIMG 6115 photo credits: |Frafuzzy| - w

A bit of History

The tower, dating from the 14th century, was part of the late medieval fortifications of Nonantola, composed of walls spaced out by seven towers, largely demolished at the beginning of the 20th century.

It was used since the mid-1500s as a prison; during the 1700s and 1800s it became a timber yard, then a pigeon house and finally, between 1950 and 1970, housed the water tank for Nonantola’s aqueduct.

Museum of Nonantola has been housed in the tower since 2007, and tells the story of the territory from prehistory to the contemporary age.

Legends & Ghost Stories

The guardian of the Torre dei Bolognesi is a griffin: Griffin, the archaeologist griffin mascot of the museum. During the Middle Ages, griffins were among the most represented animals, as their symbolic meaning was linked to the dual nature of Christ, God and Man. Images of the ancestors of the museum's archaeologist griffon mascot can be admired in the Sala degli Affreschi, the ancient refectory of the monastery of San Silvestro, in the lapidarium of the Abbey of Nonantola and inside the museum.

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The very first Griffins, according to legend, were born in Mesopotamia as guardians of precious objects and priceless treasures: it is said that they were the guardians of gold and that their lair was full of exceptional riches, which they defended valiantly and with courage.

Our Griffin, like his ancestors, also guards something very precious: the millenary history of Nonantola contained within the Museum.

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