The Gallic temple that became a tower
The Torre dei Picchi is located on a rocky spur at the southern edge of the old village of Roldo, a hamlet of Montecrestese. The south-facing position provides excellent sun exposure and allows a view of the valley below.
The building appears as a quadrangular, dry-stone turret, the result of the elevation of an earlier building with a pitched roof and rafter roofing.
This oldest part, founded directly on the rock, is a small cell with an internal vaulted roof and a window in the centre of the south side with Crevola marble jambs. Its small size, fine finish and southern exposure have allowed this room to be interpreted as a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to a solar deity and to be dated, by comparison, to the 1st-4th centuries AD.
The elevation in the form of a tower may have been made in the fully medieval period (12th-14th century), by the Picchi family, from which the tower is said to have taken its name.
The upper part was accessed by an external staircase, which has now disappeared. Both the small size of the upper room and the absence of defensive systems suggest that the tower was used as a shelter and for observation and sighting purposes.
The tower, which is privately owned, is freely accessible with a short walk through the Roldo village. It is not open but the inside of the cell on the ground floor can be observed through a small window in the door.
