There Tower of the Counts returned to the center of attention after the building partially collapsed during some restoration and static consolidation works, causing the death of a 66-year-old worker, Octay Stroici. The causes of the accident, which occurred on November 3 with a first collapse around 11.20am and a second at 12.50pmare not yet clear: the intervention of redevelopmentworth 6.9 million euros and financed by funds from PNRRaimed at the recovery of this historic building, which since 2006 he was in a state of abandonment.
But what is the history of the Torre dei Conti? The majestic building would have been erected already in the 9th century, but in 1203 it was certainly enlarged by Pope Innocent III for his family, the Counts of Segni: it is a monumental masonry structure, substantially built with travertine from the Imperial Forumslocated nearby. Over the centuries, however, the Torre dei Conti has undergone several renovations – following three earthquakes, in 1348, 1630 and 1644 – and expansion.
What is the collapsed Torre dei Conti in Rome: the history of the building
The Tower of the Counts of Rome, located in Largo Corrado Ricci at the confluence of Via Cavour and Via dei Fori Imperiali, is a typical example of the tower houses of medieval Romehomes and fortresses of the richest families of the time.
According to various historical reconstructions, the Torre dei Conti was built as early as the 9th century on top of the remains of the Temple of Peace, commissioned by Emperor Vespasian. The recent ones archaeological studies have allowed us to reconstruct in detail the construction phases of the Torre dei Conti, revealing the existence of two main phases: a first phase Romanlinked to Temple of Peaceand a second phase medievalwhich coincides with the construction of the actual tower under the papacy of Innocent III, who in 1203 had the Tower enlarged in honor of his family, the Counts of Segni.
At that point, the building was covered with travertine slabs from the Imperial Forumsthen removed in the late sixteenth century during the construction of Porta Pia: in the Middle Ages, in fact, it was a widespread practice to reuse the materials of ancient structures, both with a view to continuity between the past and the present, and for a shortage of materials for construction.
In short, with the expansion of 1203, the Tower served not only to represent ecclesiastical power, protecting the Pope’s processions from St. Peter’s to the Basilica of St. John Lateran, but also to demonstrate the power of the Segni family through architecture. In this sense, the Torre dei Conti represented a sort of “urban fortress”, which not only protected the family, but also marked their domain about the city.
The structure, therefore, had a strong component symboliclinked to the unity and cohesion of the family: in medieval Rome, these towers were often shared ownership between family members, which meant no one could take exclusive control of it, a system he favored the unit of the family, symbolically represented by sharing the tower.
How the Torre dei Conti has changed over the centuries: the collapses and structural interventions
Over the centuries, the area around the Torre dei Conti suffered various transformationscoinciding with the earthquakes of 1348del 1630 and of 1644: in these cases, the damage was such as to reduce the height of the tower, which originally must have exceeded 50-60 meters (unlike the current 29 metres).
In reality, before the two great earthquakes of 1600, the architect Carlo Lambardi had already planned a series of renovation works: between 1606 and 1613, in fact, the block in which the tower stood was urbanistically rethoughtwith the creation of new roads and new buildings that replaced some of the structures that already existed then.
From a structural point of view, however, the most important restoration interventions date back to the end of 17th century when, under the pontificate of Alexander VIII, two were built sturdy buttresses of reinforcement that still exist, i.e. vertical elements approximately 20 meters high in solid masonry, with the aim of supporting the structure and giving it stability.
Finally, in 1883 and 1933, many of the buildings around the structure were demolished: at that point, the Torre dei Conti passed from isolated fortification to an element integrated with the rest of the urban area, to then be used as the site of some public offices until 2006 and abandoned for the following 19 years.
