Palazzo della Ragione

A bronze bell has swung on the hour above this courtyard in Verona for more than seven centuries, and local legend says it was cast as punishment for a twelfth-century murder born of jealousy. The guide follows the story of the Lamberti family, the confession that supposedly bound one woman to the sound of that bell for the rest of her life, and how Verona's magistrates later built the Palazzo della Ragione on the family's confiscated ground. You'll also hear about the bell's twin, which summoned councils and soldiers, and the everyday work the two bells did marking the city's hours and warning of fire. Listen for it the next time it tolls.