Torre della Gabbia, Mantua

The Tower della Gabbia is a medieval tower located on Via Cavour #102 in Mantua, region of Lombardy, Italy.

Torre della Gabbia with iron cage at mid-height

History

The tower was built in 1281 by the Acerbi family, however, the tower takes its present name from a rectangular metal cage, erected in 1576 under Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga. The cage measured two meters long, one meter deep and high, perched about a third of the height. The cage was used to publicly expose criminals. Some documents indicate it was used to execute some prisoners, including in 1500, a Dominican friar arrested in a house of ill-repute, after giving mass despite being illiterate, as well as other crimes including murder. In 1798, the owner was instructed to destroy the cage as a symbol of tyranny, but it was retained, apparently as a curiosity.[1][2] Some sources say the tower, was built in 1302 by architect Botticella Bonacolsi.[3]

References
  1. La patria; geografia dell' Italia: Provincia di Milano, By Gustavo Chiesi, Luigi Borsari, Giuseppe Isidoro Arneudo (1894), page 205.
  2. The Cities of Lombardy, by Edward Hutton, page 212.
  3. Mantova Numerizzata Ovvero Guida Numerica Alle Case Ed Agli Stabilimenti, by Vincenzo Paolo Bottoni, page 10.

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