Torre della Muda o della Fame - Pisa

The name "della Muda" is derived from the fact that in the past the eagles bred by the municipality of Pisa were confined here during the moulting period of their feathers.

The episode of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca's death in this tower was quoted by Dante Alighieri in the XXXIII canto of the Inferno. After the dramatic events of Ugolino, known at that time before they were mentioned by Dante, because the count was a well-known figure of great political importance, the tower was nicknamed "della Fame".

The tower stood in Piazza delle Sette Vie, now Piazza dei Cavalieri di Santo Stefano, and was incorporated into the Palazzo dell'Orologio, where the Capitano del Popolo had resided since at least 1357.

The old medieval tower stood to the left of the Palazzo dell'Orologio, where there is also a plaque commemorating the sad episode that made the tower famous: the stone outline of the tower can still be seen to the left of the central arch. In contrast, the right side of the building was the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo.

After 1919, the neo-Gothic four-light arch in the tower was opened. Remains of a wall of the old tower can also be seen on the inside of the arch.

Currently it houses the library of the Scuola Normale Superiore.

Since 2016, a museum space dedicated precisely to Count Ugolino's tower has been opened, with an entrance directly from the square. From inside the Palazzo dell'Orologio, one can admire the tower's surviving walls and take a historical tour of Count Ugolino, accompanied by verses from Dante's Divine Comedy.

Willem Vandenameele