Description

The Tower was erected to honor the memory of King Victor Emmanuel II and all those who fought for independence and the Unification of Italy in the Campaigns from 1848 to 1870. The tower, a monument admired for its majesty on the outside and for its artistic merits on the inside, immersed in a large park, is an expression of the Italian patriotic sentiment, having been realized thanks to a participated national subscription. Begun in 1880, it was inaugurated on October 15, 1893 in the presence of King Umberto I, Queen Margherita, ministers, members of Parliament and a large crowd from all provinces of Italy. To the base it has a cylindrical drum tapered, crowned from merlons and measure 22,80 mt of diameter and 19,80 mt of height. From this drum stands out the male of the tower that is also cylindrical tapered and has 13 meters in diameter at the bottom and 11.40 at the top. With the medallions that support the battlements, the tower then goes back to widening so that the diameter of the terrace is 13.90 meters. The path that winds from the entrance hall to the upper platform is embellished with bronze statues and frescoes of value that evoke facts and protagonists of the Risorgimento period. The Tower has an internal development of 490 meters, it is 64 meters high and in the center of its excellent upper platform, defended by a battlemented wall, the flagpole is raised, finding there also a large lighthouse that at night radiates the colors of the Italian flag. From the top of the monument you can admire magnificent views of the plain below. Almost at the foot of the tower there is the villa Contracagna, in the past owned by the Counts Tracagni, that on the day of the battle was the target of seven assaults of the Sardinian army against the Austrian troops.