Chestnut Tower

The Castagna Tower, also known as the Iron Mouth, is one of the ancient towers in the historic center of Florence, among the best preserved, located in Piazza San Martino at the corner with Via Dante Alighieri. The tower is very old and has a varied history. It was already built in 1038 and was donated on that date by Emperor Conrad II to the monks of the nearby Badia Fiorentina, for the defense of the monastery itself. From 1282 it was the first meeting place for the priors of Florence until the construction of the Palazzo del Bargello (this historical function is also attested by a modern plaque on Via Alighieri). The name would derive from the chestnuts that they used to put in specific bags during voting. It is a curious coincidence that in Florence they used chestnuts for voting (in Florentine called ballotte) and the term ballottaggio, which etymological dictionaries trace back to a French word. The tower, thanks to its origin "above the parties", was spared from beheading in the second half of the 13th century. The tower has a quadrangular base and is quite tall and slender. A restoration in 1921 brought it back to its oldest forms. Today, the ground floor and the first floor (with a mezzanine) are owned by the National Association of Veterans and Ex-Combatants G. Garibaldi, which has also set up within it a small museum of Risorgimento memorabilia, open for visits on Thursday afternoons. The upper floors belong to the adjacent Florence Tribunal and are not open to the public. The portal on the ground floor features a double arch, also called Sienese. To the right is a plaque mentioning the fourth paragraph of the first book of the Chronicle of Dino Compagni which mentions the tower, while on Via Alighieri, a second, large plaque recalls the tower's role as a meeting place for the government of the priors. The tower is located on the north side in front of the Dante House Museum. In reality, the museum is not located in the houses of the Alighieri but incorporates other medieval buildings such as the Tower of the Games. The actual houses of the Alighieri were to the right of the Castagna Tower, but now they no longer retain traces of their medieval appearance.