Welcome, Casalino !
I live in Tuscany but I knew nothing about it.
I searched for more info and I found these articles:
https://www.ilsecoloxix.it/savona/2016/09/12/news/roccavignale-l-uomo-che-fa-girare-la-trottola-dei-record-1.32082235https://www.ivg.it/2018/11/roccavignale-edizione-2018-del-presepe-vivente-dedicata-a-renzo-gandolfo-re-dei-trottolai/http://www.savonanews.it/2015/12/23/leggi-notizia/argomenti/val-bormida/articolo/trottola-da-record-davanti-al-comune-di-roccavignale.htmlRenzo Gandolfo was a person with a big passion for spinning tops.
He built tops and he had the Guinness world records for both the biggest functional spinning top, (this one, 1996), and the littlest functional spinning top, (a few mm large).
This giant top was made from a huge poplar log, it weighs 265 kilograms, it is mt. 1.58 tall, and mt. 0.98 large.
The rope for to turn it was 20 mt. long and 30 mm thick.
Its longest spin has been 26 minutes.
Always willing to take part in exhibitions, to explain in schools the secrets about the making of spinning tops and the techniques for to spin tops, Renzo doesn't hide a bit of bitterness: " There are only a few of us left, there aren't successors to whom pass the torch.
Nowadays children prefer tablets and computers."
In 2015, a replica of this top, 1.80 mt. tall, entirely made of steel, was placed in front of the city hall of Roccavignale, on the initiative of the major Amedeo Fracchia, (third article). Renzo Gandolfo too was major here, between 1970 and 1975.
Casalino, do you know what is the aim of that rack in the upper part of the frame around the top ?
I suppose that the top was spun with the rope, (by dint of arms ?), while kept in vertical position with the help of the frame, then, when the top was spinning, it was freed from the frame at the upper side, so the top could spin like a real spinning top.