Torre Pallata Via Goffredo Mameli Brescia

The Pallata Tower, known simply as the Pallata or Torre della Pallata, is a 13th-century tower located on Corso Giuseppe Garibaldi in the center of

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

, region of

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, Italy.

History

It was initially built as a bastion that was part of the medieval walls of the city. There are two theories about the name ''pallata'': it may be derived from ''palizzata'', the Italian word for a palisade, or it may derive from the name of

Pallas Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress o ...

, with the stones perhaps having been purloined from a temple of that goddess. Construction began in 1254, in the city quarter of San Giovanni. It was associated with a medieval gate, the Porta di San Giovanni, in the early walls of the city. The tower once held the vaults of a bank or

Monte di Pieta A mount of piety is an institutional pawnbroker run as a charity in Europe from Renaissance times until today. Similar institutions were established in the colonies of Catholic countries; the Mexican Nacional Monte de Piedad is still in operation ...

. Over the centuries, decorations were added, such as a clock in 1461 and merlons and a small tower at the top between 1476 and 1481. In 1597, the west side of the tower had the addition of a fountain, built in

Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

style. The fountain was based on a design and iconography by

Pier Maria Bagnadore Piermaria Bagnadore (c. 1550–1627), also called Pietro Maria Bagnatori, was an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect of the late-Renaissance period. Biography Born in Orzinuovi, he trained with il Moretto da Brescia, and painted mainly in ...

and built by the architect Antonio Carra, and the statuary was completed by the sculptor Valentino Bonesini. The fountain has four allegoric statues, with the lower register representing either the two rivers in Brescia, the Mella and the Garza, or the two lakes in the province, Garda and

Iseo Iseo may refer to: Acronyms * International Sustainable Energy Organization (ISEO) Places Italy * Iseo, Lombardy, a ''comune'' in the Province of Brescia * Lake Iseo, a lake in the Provinces of Bergamo and Brescia, Lombardy * Provaglio d'Ise ...

.Turismo Brescia
entry on tower.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torre Pallata Brescia Buildings and structures in Brescia

Towers completed in the 13th century