Piemont Tour 2019 / Asti

The Torre Rossa / The old church San Secondo of the Red Tower
The Torre Rossa is a Romanesque tower, it is 24 metres high and has the shape of a 16-sided polygon.
It is one of the oldest buildings in Asti, built in different eras, the red part built in the 1st century B.C., the highest part in tufa stone in the 11th century B.C. It probably belonged to a city gate from Roman times.
In the 12th century it became the bell tower of the adjacent church, a function it still has today.

The church was probably built around the Romanesque tower, legend has it that St. Secundus of Asti was imprisoned here before his beheading on 30 March 119.