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The Comentina Tower

Benvenuti!

“Welcome visitors inside my walls!
I was born when the earth was still trembling with medieval wars, how many adventures have I experienced since the 13th century!
I was a bell tower, they dressed me up as a theater, I hosted Napoleonic invaders and aristocratic families, a thousand changes have marked me, up to now, that I have been entrusted with one of the most flattering tasks of my long career.
I keep within myself the food and wine excellences of our UNESCO territory, looking after all the treasures that the land has given to my region, made noble by the skilled hands of winemakers and producers, to show them to you as treasures and tell you their history as a small museum of delicacies and first fruits.
In this little journey you will get to know what Asti has to offer, and while you walk among the shop windows, I will stay up here, as in past centuries, the tallest of the towers, watching over the city and its inhabitants. and to watch the sun set on my beautiful Asti. "

The Comentina (or San Bernardino) tower has a long and compelling history.

Erected in the thirteenth century by the Comentini family, it was sold after about a century to Emilia, the widow of Rosonino Asinari, heir to another prominent family of medieval Asti. Emilia founded here a monastery with an adjoining church in honor of Santa Caterina.

In 1545 the minor friars of San Bernardino (hence the double name of the tower) moved there and they eliminated the old building to build a new church, annexing the tower as a bell tower. After the age of the friars, the building and the tower became the seat of a prestigious theater, until the Napoleonic invasions, when it was occupied and used as a station for French soldiers.

In 1800 the tower saw its adjacent building change again: the monastery was demolished and the Medici del Vascello Palace, also known as the “castle” of Piazza Roma, was erected on its ashes.

Many things have changed over the centuries, the course (Alfieri) and the square (Rome) have undergone many changes and many protagonists have followed one another in this historic corner but one thing has always remained the same: the tower that stands on everything and remain stoic, no one has ever had the courage to change it.

In the heart of Piedmont

Discover the UNESCO Monferrato

The city of Asti is located in the gentle hills of Monferrato, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017. Dotted with vineyards, Monferrato is a feast for the eyes, a unique vision in the world, to be discovered hill after hill.

Medici Palace

The living room of Asti

When the Medici family brought blue gold to Asti, or drinking water thanks to the construction of their aqueduct, the city decided to thank them by allowing them to build their home right in the center of the city. Piazza Roma over the years becomes the most photographed square in Asti, exactly halfway between the part of the Corso with the shops and shopping and the historical-museum part.

The Historic Center

The city of 100 towers

As a strategic point of passage for pilgrims of all eras, Asti has welcomed many tourists, since the late Roman era. This is probably the reason for the construction of the towers, which at the time were used as forts, inside which the wealth that travelers left stalled to make their journey lighter and safer were kept.