“L'Italia turrita” (The Towered Italy) by Carlo Lorenzetti, 1898
Hotel Bauer-Grunwald terrace
Seen from the Canal Grande (Grand Canal)
Venice, September 2012
“The representation of Italia Turrita was proposed under the emperor Trajan, who wanted it to be sculpted on the Trajan’s Arch erected in Benevento in 114-117, and also on one of the two Pluteos called anaglypha, four years later. Afterwards, from 130 AD on, under the emperors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Septimius Severus and Caracalla, Roman coins reproduced the allegorical representation of Italy as a dressed and towered woman who sometimes carries a cornucopia. The towered crown is the symbol of Civitas romana (Roman Citizenship), therefore the allegory shows the sovereignty of the Italian peninsula as a land of free cities and of Roman citizens to whom a proper right has been granted: the Ius Italicum.” (Italia Turrita, Wikipedia)
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