Description
The Gardello Tower is a medieval tower a couple of steps from Piazza delle Erbe, in Verona, 44 meters high. It has a place in the city's history: in 1370 a bell clock rang from here for the first time.
At the top you can pick out the bell chamber, thanks to its mullioned windows with a column in the middle, and the truncated-cone roof. On the tower there is also a Latin plaque commemorating the clock.
The Latin text recalls Cansignorio della Scala, who governed the city justly, and says that in 1370 (the date is written as "twice seven lustra" after thirteen hundred) the tower struck the hours. It was a solemn way of saying that in Verona, from that moment on, the hours could be heard.
The original bell, weighing 1.8 tons, is by Master Jacopo and bears the city's coat of arms, the image of the patron saint Zeno and some inscriptions in Gothic letters. It is no longer on the tower: it is displayed in the Castelvecchio museum.
Before the tower there was a tower-house, most probably of the Gardello family: hence the name. Cansignorio had it restored and raised in 1370, perhaps to a design by Giovanni da Ferrara or his son. The tower and its bell clock were meant to give prestige to the Scaliger family and to the city, and with that work the building took its substantially final appearance.
At first there was only the bell, striking the hours. The mechanism that moved the hands and the outer dial were installed in 1421.
For a long time the Gardello tower was the only clock with a dial in the city. Only in 1661 (or perhaps in the late 1700s) was another clock with a dial installed on the nearby, taller Lamberti Tower.
In 1626 the tower received its last touch-up: a truncated-cone roof, which raised it slightly to 44 meters.
At the top you can pick out the bell chamber, thanks to its mullioned windows with a column in the middle, and the truncated-cone roof. On the tower there is also a Latin plaque commemorating the clock.
The Latin text recalls Cansignorio della Scala, who governed the city justly, and says that in 1370 (the date is written as "twice seven lustra" after thirteen hundred) the tower struck the hours. It was a solemn way of saying that in Verona, from that moment on, the hours could be heard.
The original bell, weighing 1.8 tons, is by Master Jacopo and bears the city's coat of arms, the image of the patron saint Zeno and some inscriptions in Gothic letters. It is no longer on the tower: it is displayed in the Castelvecchio museum.
Before the tower there was a tower-house, most probably of the Gardello family: hence the name. Cansignorio had it restored and raised in 1370, perhaps to a design by Giovanni da Ferrara or his son. The tower and its bell clock were meant to give prestige to the Scaliger family and to the city, and with that work the building took its substantially final appearance.
At first there was only the bell, striking the hours. The mechanism that moved the hands and the outer dial were installed in 1421.
For a long time the Gardello tower was the only clock with a dial in the city. Only in 1661 (or perhaps in the late 1700s) was another clock with a dial installed on the nearby, taller Lamberti Tower.
In 1626 the tower received its last touch-up: a truncated-cone roof, which raised it slightly to 44 meters.