The internal peace in the city of Bologna is matched by a new development of the arts, especially of architecture: so that the destruction of the Pal… - Guido Zucchini

Aristotele Fioravanti [...] architect and engineer of the Municipality of Bologna, very skilled in regulating water and designing new hydraulic works, in straightening towers, in moving tenement buildings, good ' 'machine maker, as Filarete called him, and 'good expert in measurements. (pp. 82-83)

Towards C.E.1199, Bologna saw the two most singular and famous towers rise simultaneously: slender and vibrant, like a sword pointed towards the sky, the one built by the Asinelli and thrown upwards for more than ninety-seven meters above a square base of approximately eight meters on each side; slightly less wide, still resting on a base covered with selenite blocks, but inclined towards the east and unfinished due to the subsidence of the land, that of the Garisendi, who in the new competition of noble emulation had to stop the construction of the symbol of their strength. (pp. 28-30)

The freedom conquered [by the Bolognese] against the Viscontis, the desire to seal the new republican regime with a grandiose construction, dedicated to a local saint, perhaps emulation, which pushed them to surpass the cathedral of Milan and that of Florence, were the causes of the erection of San Petronio. (p. 54)