Alba, la città delle “cento” torri: una proposta per la valorizzazione delle strutture evidenti e latenti

Alba (CN) features numerous towers built during the medieval period. These structures have significantly shaped the city's skyline, showcasing the political, economic, and military power of leading families during the communal era. As is well known, towers were used to control the territory, defend the city, and detain prisoners. An architectural competition often spurred families vying for dominance on the urban stage. Various iconographic and archival evidence preserve the memory of an extensive heritage, leading to the erroneous belief of Alba as the “city of a hundred towers”. While an overestimation, this perception highlights the remarkable density of towers once present in the city's historic core. The main towers, those most familiar to the public, standing tall along the city's streets and representing a fundamental aspect of its architectural culture, must be complemented by those integrated into building facades, hidden beneath roofs, or concealed underground, making them less visible. This heritage is of paramount importance for the city's history and the architecture of the entire region, yet it struggles to find its place in Alba's cultural policies. This contribution aims to add essential pieces to our understanding of these structures, highlighting the various phases that have shaped their transformation. It also emphasizes the importance of latent traces in finding solutions for their enhancement and utilization within the cultural strategies of a city that spearheads the UNESCO Langhe-Roero-Monferrato site. This project is focused on preservation while fostering greater citizen involvement and renewed sensitivity from tourists.