When Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, after deciding upon Turin as his Dukedom's capital, found himself hard-pressed to come up with a justification to such choice, he turned to a man of letters with a peculiar love of history: Baron Emanuele Filiberto Pingone was thus charged with scouring the archives for any claim to glory on the city's part. To this end, Pingone took residence in via della Basilica (at its intersection with via Egidi) and there compiled his "History of Turin", much to his mentor's satisfaction. To this day, the scholar's home retains all its former charm, as well as the only remaining Medieval tower in all of Turin.