At 51 metres, the Torre Rognosa is the second-tallest tower in San Gimignano and one of the most visible landmarks on the Piazza del Duomo. It was built in the 13th century as part of the Palazzo del Podestà and served a regulatory function as well as a defensive one: no private family tower was permitted to exceed its height, a civic ordinance meant to limit the tower-building competition that had consumed the town for generations.
The tower is not open to the public, but it doesn't need to be — its presence in the skyline is the point. Standing in the Piazza del Duomo and looking up at the Rognosa beside the Torre Grossa gives you the best sense of what the original 72-tower medieval cityscape must have looked like at full height.