St. Mark's Bell-Tower

The year 912 runs – even before the year 1000 – and the Venetians have in mind a new control tower flanking the other 4 already existing ones as a defense function of the Doge’s Palace. It is precisely the latter that will become the tallest tower in the city (98.6 m), located at the symbolic site of St. Mark’s Square with the Venetian name of“El Paron de Casa” (the house owner)

The initial structure of which we know very little has been restored again and again due to thunder or fire constantly striking the tower; in the late 1400s lightning severely damaged the tower.

As restorations continued, the copper-plated wooden structure of Archangel Gabriel was added and, thanks to a rotating complex, indicates the direction of the wind.

Later, in the 1500s, Iacopo Sansovino added a loggia to the base of the tower, called precisely“Loggetta di Sansovino,” which was initially supposed to be an arch of triumph for Venetian patriots.

Because of its height and iron reinforcements, the tower has always been like a natural lightning rod; in the mid-1700s another incident caused part of the tower to collapse, killing 3 people.

With the tower’s weight, structural weakness and ruined materials, people began to doubt its integrity but no action was taken until 150 years after the tragedy.

Although the commission declared the structure stable in 1800, a century later, on July 7, 1902 during a minor renovation inside Sansovino’s Loggetta, a dangerous crack was revealed between the bricks and, a week later, on July 13 at 09:47 a.m. the crack opened and collapsed the entire steeple, leaving nothing but a 20-meter-high pile of debris.

Despite the immense disaster, a true catastrophe of the structure that caused it to collapse in on itself, there were no injuries and the adjacent Basilica of San Marco was unharmed, however, Sansovino’s Loggetta was completely destroyed. Only the angel and the major bell, the Marengona, emerged from the debris, which recovery went on for 6 consecutive months.

The Venetians, however, could not remain without their symbol, the “paron de casa,” one of the symbols of the magnificence of Venice, a symbol proudly shown to kings and emperors who from the top could admire the beauty of the panorama and the city that even today we can still enjoy centuries later, remaining spellbound looking at the lagoon, the city and, if the sky permits, the sea and the Dolomites on the horizon.

On the very evening of the collapse, the city council met urgently, allocating 500,000 old liras for the reconstruction of the tower, inaugurating the work that began with the placement of the first brick on April 25, 1903 that followed the motto “as it was, where it was.”

The new bell tower was inaugurated on St. Mark’s Day, the city’s patron saint, April 25, 1912.