The “Sweet” Taste of Ballot

In the old city center of Florence, very close to Piazza della Signoria and Bargello, there is one of the most ancient buildings of the city: Torre della Castagna (the tower of chestnuts).
The tower was built in 1038 and Emperor Corrado II gave it to the monks of the adjacent Badia Fiorentina.
In 1282, the tower became the meeting place of the Priori, where they regularly met to vote and take decisions about the future of the Florentine Republic and of the citizens. The voting process was very simple and free from ambiguities: the Priori put a chestnut in a bag according to what they wanted to vote for. Then, they counted how many chestnuts there were in each of the bags in order to see who had won.
Chestnuts in Florence are called “ballotte”. That (allegedly) is why the voting process was called “ballot”, which is still one of the most important words in current democracies.

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