The Bell Towers Campaniles of Venice Italy

Saint-Mark Bell Tower and Square in Venice Italy

Saint-Mark Bell Tower and Square They stand very straight or lean dangerously while looking at us from above as they flirt with the sky.

These are the bell towers of Venice, often adorned with statues of gargoyles.

All churches have, or at least had one of them, because a good many between them collapsed over the course of the centuries.

The most famous and the highest is Bell Tower of San Marco Plazza with its 98 meters high.

St.Mark Bell Tower €17 →

It is almost a new bell tower since its rebuilding in 1912 after the spectacular collapse of precedent in 1902:

“this colossal bell tower which rises up to look at the sea over the shoulder of Venice”
Abbé Paul Barbier - translated from Italie Souvenirs et Impressions de Voyage 1893

St.Mark Bell Tower. They mark the hour, they ring, they are imposing and often beautiful, without them Venice would not be what it is!

Many writers compared the bell towers of Venice with masts of boats and such an image is rather justified:

“Naked and right like a mast of ship, the gigantic bell tower reaches the sky and from a distance announces the old royalty of Venice to the travelers of the sea.”
Hippolyte Taine - translated from A Venise, voyage en Italie 1864

These are also preferred places to be able admire Venice from up high and believe us it's worth it to go up to the Bell tower of Saint-Mark or else in that of San Giorgio di Maggiore, on the other side of the basin of Saint-Mark.

“The skyline appears immense from the top of the tower of Saint-Mark: they have in perspective the sea Adriatic and its shores seeded with cities.”
Flandin – Translated from Voyages 1838