The campanile of St. Mark’s is an huge square plan tower about 99 metres high, crowned by a spire that was once a lighthouse for shipping. It is the prototype of all the campaniles of the lagoon area. It was first built in the 12th century on the site of what was probably a watchtower and rebuilt in its current form early in the 16th centurywith the addition of a belfry and with the spire faced in copper and topped by a sort of rotating platform with a statue of the Archangel Gabriel which functioned as a weathercock.
Of the five original bells only the largest remains. The others, now replaced, were destroyed when the tower collapsed in 1902. From the belfry loggia there is an amazing view of the city and the lagoon.
This history of the campanile is linked to the traditional flight of the Angel celebration that took place on the last Thursday before Lent, a balancing act in which an acrobat descended a tightrope from the belfry to a boat in the Basin or to the loggia of the Ducal Palace where the Doge and Lords observed the spectacle.
A visit to the campanile was an attraction offered also in the past to illustrious guests, though the Lords were cautious in granting permission to foreigners for fear that they might survey the layout of the city and its ports for military purposes. Galileo used the campanile as an observatory to study the skies and it was there in1609 that he demonstrated his telescope to the Lords.
Informazioni utili:
Address: Piazza San Marco - Venezia
Opening times: 9.30-16 (apr.-giu. 9.30-17, lug.-set. 9.30-20)
Price:
€ 6,00/3,00
Contacts:
Tel: 041-5224064
How to get there: 1/82 fermata San Marco
