Classroom lesson · Guaita - The First Tower · 🇸🇲 San Marino

Guaita - The First Tower

San Marino's oldest tower, built more than a thousand years ago

Guaita tower rising above the rocky cliffs of Mount Titano

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Guaita is the oldest and most famous of San Marino's three towers. It sits at the western end of the ridge on Mount Titano and has been standing there since around the year 1000 CE - that is over a thousand years ago! It is the first tower most visitors see and the one that appears on San Marino's coins and stamps.

Tell me more

Guaita is a round stone tower that looks like something straight out of a fairy tale. It was built at the very edge of a cliff, so the rock itself acts as an extra wall on one side. Walking up to it, you pass through an outer ring of old stone walls before reaching the tower itself.

Because it has been around for so long, Guaita has had many different uses over the centuries. For a long time it was the most important building for protecting the country. Later it became something else entirely: a place where people were kept safe while they waited for the courts to decide their situations. Today it is open for visitors to explore.

From the top of Guaita you get one of the best views in all of San Marino. The old cobblestone streets of the capital city wind down the hillside below you, and on a clear day the horizon stretches all the way to the coast of Italy.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01A thousand years is a very long time. What was happening in the world around the year 1000 CE?
  2. 02Guaita is used as a tourist attraction today. How do buildings change their purpose over a very long time?
  3. 03If you were designing a tower to protect a city on top of a mountain, what features would you include?
Try this

Classroom activity

Design your own tower. On paper, sketch a stone tower that you would build on the edge of a cliff. Label at least five features and explain what each one is for (for example: a window to look out, a strong gate, a flag on top).