Friend or Foe?
Imagine you are a traveler in the Middle Ages, long before a unified Italy, when the “Boot” was still fragmented into warring kingdoms, duchies and city-states. Even when there was peace among them, it was an uneasy peace.
During the 13th and 14th centuries, a particular conflict between two rival factions - the Guelfs and the Ghibellines - created chronic strife for the people in central and northern Italy and beyond. The German (Holy Roman) Emperors wished to extend their rule southward. Their supporters were known as Ghibellines. The Guelfs sided with the Pope and the efforts of the Papal State to rule more widely. (This is the simple description of a more complicated dispute. I am sure the historians among you will enjoy a deeper dig.)
In central Italy, Guelf-controlled Florence and her allies Montepulciano, Bologna and Orvietto, who were aligned with the Pope, fought a series of wars with the Ghibelline states of Siena, Pisa, Arezzo and Pistoia who remained supportive of the Holy Roman Emperor. The Guelfs were more likely to be from families of wealthy merchants while dukes and landowners tended to be Ghibellines, thus rivalries were not just between cities but also among prominent families within each territory.
Back to our traveler! You have been on the road for many days and are in unfamiliar territory. You come from a Guelf ruled village but are unaware of the allegiances of the families whose lands you are crossing. You are tired and hungry and just hoping to find a friendly, fellow Guelf who will offer you a warm place to spend the night. Which home or village do you choose?
Easy! You just look for a tower or palace with squared crenellations! Luckily, builders were proud of their particular allegiance and selected a style to announce it. The Pope’s Guelf supporters topped their structures with square crenellations while the Ghibellines favored a swalow tailed design.
Squared crennelations were a welcome site to Guelf travelers who supported the Papal state in the middle ages. This building stands in Assisi’s main piazza.
Supporters of the Holy Roman Emperors signaled their allegiance with these swallow tailed crenalations. This wall stands in Verona just beyond the famed balcony where Shakespeare’s (fictional), despairing Juliet implores, “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”