Torre dell'Orologio
Renaissance clock tower with astronomical dial and two bronze figures striking the hour on a rooftop bell.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Torre dell'Orologio in Venice opens with a chilling rumor Venetians used to tell about the clock's builder, then asks whether it's actually true. It traces the real commission back to 1493, when Venice's Senate hired the father-and-son engineers Gian Paolo and Gian Carlo Rainieri to build a clock worthy of a maritime empire, unveiled in 1499. Look up at the two bronze figures on the rooftop as you listen, one bearded and one young, still frozen with their hammers raised.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
St Mark's Campanile
Nearly thousand-year-old bell tower, rebuilt brick for brick after collapsing in nineteen oh two, with sweeping lagoon views.
Piazza San Marco
Grand medieval square framed by arcades, a soaring bell tower, and a Byzantine basilica.
Chiesa di San Giacomo di Rialto
Ancient parish church with a mocked fifteenth century clock and one of the last gothic porticoes in the city.
Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo
Cylindrical brick and stone tower wound by an external spiral staircase of eighty steps to a rooftop belvedere.
San Giorgio Maggiore Church
Renaissance basilica of gleaming white marble on its own lagoon island, with a bell tower offering panoramic views.
Ponte di Rialto
Single-arch stone bridge over the Grand Canal, its ramps lined with shops built by a design many predicted would collapse.