In medieval Pavia, wealthy families built towers as symbols of power — at the height of the commune period the city had more than a hundred. Around 40 survive today, giving parts of the old city a skyline that reads almost as it did in the 13th century. The three surviving towers of the Bramante group, visible from the Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, are the most photographed. Several towers have been integrated into later buildings or used as bell towers for churches.
The towers were not just status symbols: in the constant factional warfare of the Italian communes, controlling a tower meant having a defensible position from which to dominate a neighbourhood. Some families built bridges between adjacent towers so they could move through the city at height without descending to street level.