This is a photo of a model reconstruction of Bologna, Italy, somewhere around 1300 or so. What the heck are all those towers?!? We know they were there because the foundations are still there today in Bologna. They were built by wealthy families to protect themselves and all their stuff when the 99% got angry at the inequality and greed. The towers themselves are gone because the government of the city-state later passed a law restricting building height, so the parts of the towers over the limit were demolished.
All this stuff happened centuries ago, in a time that historian Ada Palmer has described as an era we know much less about than we think we do, and most of what we do think we know is wrong. The photo is from her site Ex Urbe, where you can read more about these things, and see some photos of modern-day Bologna and the remaining tower bases.
