Borgia towers were guard towers found within the Italian city of Rome during the Borgia papacy of 1492-1503. The towers were built by Pope Alexander VI with the goal of asserting the Borgia family's dominance over Rome; as Cesare Borgia fought campaigns in the Romagna region, the Borgias increased security back home to continue oppressing the people of Rome. Starting in 1500, Ezio Auditore da Firenze and other opponents of Borgia rule began to target the towers and their captains, with Auditore assassinating guard captains before blowing up the towers with gunpowder. By 1503, Borgia control over the ciity had been destroyed, and the amount of guards and bandits in Borgia districts decreased as the amount of reopened shops and civilians rose.