Torre del Grillo
Title
Torre del Grillo
Description
The first document to reference the tower using its current name was a 1675 peace agreement (strumento di concordia) between Girolama Ottaviani Orsini and the marchese Cosmo Del Grillo. Because there is so little documentation of the tower during the Middle Ages, much of its history is less clear than some of the more famous towers in the area. Some sources attribute its construction to Gilidone Carbone, a member of the Colonna family who is also credited with building the Torre di Colonna, but recent studies have called that into question.
According to documents written soon after the acquisition of the tower by the Del Grillo family, the tower belonged first to the Colonna family, then to the Conti (medioevo). However, Keyvanian points out that it was built using the same masonry techniques as both the Torre dei Conti and the Torre di Milizie, and was likely a Conti structure built to reduce the distance that forms of communication like fire and smoke would need to travel in order to send messages between the two major Conti family towers.
The Conti family kept control of the tower until the second half of the 17th century, when the Del Grillo family acquired the tower from Baldassarre of the Conti and connected it to their noble palace. The stucco decoration which can be found at the top of the tower, which reads Ex Marchione de Grillis, was the first inscription on the tower.
According to documents written soon after the acquisition of the tower by the Del Grillo family, the tower belonged first to the Colonna family, then to the Conti (medioevo). However, Keyvanian points out that it was built using the same masonry techniques as both the Torre dei Conti and the Torre di Milizie, and was likely a Conti structure built to reduce the distance that forms of communication like fire and smoke would need to travel in order to send messages between the two major Conti family towers.
The Conti family kept control of the tower until the second half of the 17th century, when the Del Grillo family acquired the tower from Baldassarre of the Conti and connected it to their noble palace. The stucco decoration which can be found at the top of the tower, which reads Ex Marchione de Grillis, was the first inscription on the tower.
Creator
Laura Diamond (2020)
Source
Keyvanian, Carla. Hospitals and Urbanism in Rome, 1200-1550. Leiden: Brill, 2015.
Bernacchio, Nicoletta. "Roma. Torre del Grillo: Vicende storiche e analisi strutturale." Archeologia Medievale 23(1996): 763-775.
Identifier
torregrillo_2017
Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Piazza del Grillo, 5, 00184 Roma RM
Description
The first document to reference the tower using its current name was a 1675 peace agreement (strumento di concordia) between Girolama Ottaviani Orsini and the marchese Cosmo Del Grillo. Because there is so little documentation of the tower during the Middle Ages, much of its history is less clear than some of the more famous towers in the area. Some sources attribute its construction to Gilidone Carbone, a member of the Colonna family who is also credited with building the Torre di Colonna, but recent studies have called that into question.According to documents written soon after the acquisition of the tower by the Del Grillo family, the tower belonged first to the Colonna family, then to the Conti (medioevo). However, Keyvanian points out that it was built using the same masonry techniques as both the Torre dei Conti and the Torre di Milizie, and was likely a Conti structure built to reduce the distance that forms of communication like fire and smoke would need to travel in order to send messages between the two major Conti family towers.
The Conti family kept control of the tower until the second half of the 17th century, when the Del Grillo family acquired the tower from Baldassarre of the Conti and connected it to their noble palace. The stucco decoration which can be found at the top of the tower, which reads Ex Marchione de Grillis, was the first inscription on the tower.