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Basilica bell tower in Venice, Italy

St Mark's Campanile (, ) is the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy. The current campanile is a reconstruction completed in 1912, the previous tower having collapsed in 1902. At in height, it is the tallest structure in Venice and is colloquially termed "el paròn de casa" (the master of the house). It is one of the most recognizable symbols of the city. Located in Saint Mark's Square near the mouth of the Grand Canal, the campanile was initially intended as a watchtower to sight approaching ships and protect the entry to the city. It also served as a landmark to guide Venetian ships safely into harbour. Construction began in the early tenth century and continued sporadically over time as the tower was slowly raised in height. A belfry and a spire were first added in the twelfth century. In the fourteenth century the spire was gilded, making the tower visible to distant ships in the Adriatic. The campanile reached its full height in 1514 when the belfry and spire were completely rebuilt on the basis of an earlier Renaissance design by Giorgio Spavento. Historically, the bells served to regulate the civic and religious life of Venice, marking the beginning, pauses, and end of the work day; the convocation of government assemblies; and public executions. The campanile stands alone in the square, near the front of St Mark's Basilica. It has a simple form, recalling its early defensive function, the bulk of which is a square brick shaft with lesenes, wide on each side and tall. The belfry is topped by an attic with effigies of the Lion of St Mark and allegorical figures of Venice as Justice. The tower is capped by a pyramidal spire at the top of which there is a golden weather vane in the form of the archangel Gabriel.

The Magyar raids into northern Italy in 898 and again in 899 resulted in the plundering and brief occupation of the important mainland cities of Cittanova, Padua, and Treviso as well as several smaller towns and settlements in and around the Venetian Lagoon. Although the Venetians ultimately defeated the Magyars on the Lido of Albiola on 29 June 900 and repelled the incursion, Venice remained vulnerable by way of the deep navigable channel that allowed access to the harbour from the sea. In particular, the young city was threatened by the Slavic pirates who routinely menaced Venetian shipping lanes in the Adriatic. A series of fortifications was consequently erected during the reign of Doge Pietro Tribuno to protect Venice from invasion by sea. These fortifications included a wall that started at the rivulus de Castello (Rio del Palazzo), just east of the Doge's Castle, and eventually extended along the waterfront to the area occupied by the early Church of Santa Maria Iubanico. However, the exact location of the wall has not been determined nor how long it was there beyond the period of crisis. Integral to this defensive network, an iron harbour chain that could be pulled taut across the Grand Canal to impede navigation and block access to the centre of the city was installed at the height of San Gregorio. In addition, a massive watchtower was built in Saint Mark's Square. Probably begun during the reign of Tribuno, it was also intended to serve as a point of reference to guide Venetian ships safely into the harbour, which at that time occupied a substantial part of the area corresponding to the present day piazzetta.

The defensive system begun under Pietro Tribuno was likely provisional, and construction may have been limited to the reinforcement of pre existing structures. Some of the early bricks dated from the late Roman Empire and were salvaged from ruins on the mainland. For the foundation, alder piles, roughly in length and in diameter, were driven into a dense layer of clay located around below the surface. The piles were topped with two layers of oak planking on which multiple layers of stone were laid. No further additions were made to the tower until the time of Domenico Selvo , an indication that it had reached a serviceable height and could be used to control access to the city. Selvo increased the height to around , which corresponded with the fifth of the eight present windows. Doge Domenico Morosini then raised the height to the actual level of the belfry and is credited with the construction of the bell tower. His portrait in the Doge's Palace shows him together with a scroll that lists the significant events of his reign, among which is the construction of the bell tower: "Sub me admistrandi operis campanile Sancti Marci construitur ".

The first belfry was added under Vitale II Michiel It was surmounted by a pyramidal spire in wood that was sheathed with copper plates. Around 1329, the belfry was restored and the spire reconstructed. The spire itself was particularly prone to fire due to the wooden framework. It burned when lighting struck the tower on 7 June 1388, but it was nevertheless rebuilt in wood. On this occasion, the copper plates were covered in gold leaf, rendering the tower visible to distant ships in the Adriatic. Marcantonio Sabellico records in his guide to the city, De Venetae urbis situ (c. 1494 – c. yes), that mariners looked to the gilded spire as a 'welcoming star':

The spire was once again destroyed in 1403 when flames from a bonfire lit to illuminate the tower in celebration of the Venetian victory over the Genoese at the Battle of Modon enveloped the wooden frame. It was rebuilt between 1405 and 1406. Lightning again struck the tower during a violent storm on 11 August 1489, setting ablaze the spire which eventually crashed into the square below. The bells fell to the floor of the belfry, and the masonry of the tower itself cracked. In response to this latest calamity, the procurators of Saint Mark de supra, the government officials responsible for the public buildings around Saint Mark's Square, decided to rebuild the belfry and spire completely in masonry so as to prevent future fires. The commission was given to their proto (consultant architect and buildings manager), Giorgio Spavento. Although the design was submitted within a few months, the estimated cost was 50,000 ducats, and financial constraints in the period of recovery from the wars in Lombardy against Milan (1423–1454) delayed construction. Instead, Spavento limited repairs to the structural damage to the tower. A temporary clay tile roof was placed over the belfry, and the bells that were still intact were rehung. The outbreak in 1494 of the Italian wars for the control of the mainland precluded any further action. On 26 March 1511, a violent earthquake further damaged the fragile structure and opened a long fissure on the northern side of the tower, making it necessary to immediately intervene. Upon the initiative of procurator Antonio Grimani, the temporary roof and the belfry were removed and preparations were made to finally execute Spavento's design. The work was carried out under the direction of Pietro Bon who had succeeded Spavento as proto in 1509. To finance the initial work, the procurators sold unclaimed objects in precious metals that had been deposited in the treasury of St Mark's in 1414 for a value of 6,000 ducats. By 1512, the tower itself had been completely repaired, and work began on the new belfry made in Istrian stone. The four sides of the brick attic above have high relief sculptures in contrasting Istrian stone. The eastern and western sides have allegorical figures of Venice, presented as a personification of Justice with the sword and the scales. She sits on a throne supported by lions on either side in allusion to the throne of Solomon, the king of ancient Israel renowned for his wisdom and judgement. This theme of Venice as embodying, rather than invoking, the virtue of Justice is common in Venetian state iconography and is recurrent on the façade of the Doge's Palace. The remaining sides of the attic have the lion of Saint Mark, the symbol of the Venetian Republic. On 6 July 1513 a wooden statue of the archangel Gabriel, plated in copper and gilded, was placed at the top of the spire. In his diary, Marin Sanudo recorded the event:

A novelty with respect to the earlier tower, the statue also functioned as a weather vane, turning so that it always faced into the wind. Francesco Sansovino suggested in his guide to the city, Venetia città nobilissima et singolare (1581), that the idea of a weather vane atop the new tower derived from Vitruvius’ description of the Tower of the Winds in Athens which had a bronze triton mounted on a pivot. But the specific choice of the archangel Gabriel was meant to recall the legend of Venice's foundation on the 25 March 421, the feast of the Annunciation. In Venetian historiography, the legend, traceable to the thirteenth century, conflated the beginning of the Christian era with the birth of Venice as a Christian republic and affirmed Venice's unique place and role in history as an act of divine grace. As a construct, it is expressed in the frequent representations of the Annunciation throughout Venice, most notably on the façade of St Mark's Basilica and in the reliefs by Agostino Rubini at the base of the Rialto Bridge, depicting the Virgin Mary opposite the archangel Gabriel. As recorded by Marin Sanudo, structural work on the tower terminated in June 1514. The remaining work was completed by October 1514, including the gilding of the spire.

In the fifteenth century, the procurators of Saint Mark de supra erected a covered exterior gallery attached to the bell tower. It was a lean to wooden structure, partially enclosed, that served as a gathering place for nobles whenever they came to the square on government business. It also provided space for the procurators who occasionally met there and for the sentries who protected the entry to the Doge's Palace whenever the Great Council was in session. Over time, it was repeatedly damaged by falling masonry from the bell tower as a result of storm and earthquake but was repaired after each incident. However, when lightning struck the bell tower on 11 August 1537 and the loggia underneath was once again damaged, the decision came to completely rebuild the structure. The commission was given to the sculptor and architect Jacopo Sansovino, the immediate successor to Bon as proto to the procurators of Saint Mark de supra. It was completed in 1546. The remaining three sides of the bell tower were covered with wooden lean to stalls, destined for retail activities. These were an additional source of revenue for the procurators of Saint Mark de supra and were leased in order to finance the maintenance of the buildings in the square. The lean to stalls were removed in 1873.

Throughout its history, the bell tower remained susceptible to damage from storms. Lightning struck in 1548, 1562, 1565, and 1567. On each occasion, repairs were carried out under the direction of Jacopo Sansovino, responsible as proto for the maintenance of the buildings administered by the procurators of Saint Mark de supra, including the bell tower. The work, funded from the accounts of the procurators, was typically executed by carpenters provided by the Arsenal, the government shipyards. The tower was damaged twice in 1582. In the following centuries, it was repeatedly necessary to intervene and repair the damage caused by lightning. In 1653, Baldassarre Longhena took up repairs after lightning struck, having become proto in 1640. The damage must have been extensive on this occasion, given the repair cost of 1,230 ducats. Significant work was also necessary to repair damage done after lightning struck on 23 April 1745, causing some of the masonry to crack and killing four people in the square as a result of falling stonework. The campanile was again damaged by lightning in 1761 and 1762. Repair costs on the second occasion reached the considerable sum of 3,329 ducats. Finally, on 18 March 1776, the physicist Giuseppe Toaldo, professor of astronomy at the University of Padua, installed a lightning rod, the first in Venice. Periodic work was also needed to repair damage to the tower and the statue of the archangel Gabriel from wind and rain erosion. The original statue was replaced in 1557 with a smaller version. After numerous restorations, this was in turn substituted in 1822 by a statue designed by Luigi Zandomeneghi, professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia. The tower remained of strategic importance to the city. Access to visiting foreign dignitaries was allowed only by the Signoria, the executive body of the government, and ideally at high tide when it was not possible to distinguish the navigable channels in the lagoon. On 21 August 1609, Galileo Galilei demonstrated his telescope to the procurator Antonio Priuli and other nobles from the belfry. Three days later, the telescope was presented to doge Leonardo Donato from the loggia of the Doge's Palace.

A bell was most likely first installed in the tower during the tenure of Doge Vitale II Michiel. However, documents that attest to the presence of a bell are traceable only from the thirteenth century. A deliberation of the Great Council, dated 8 July 1244, established that the bell to convene the council was to be rung in the evening if the council was to meet the following morning and in the early afternoon if the meeting was scheduled for the evening of the same day. There is a similar reference to the bell in the statute of the ironmongers' guild, dating to 1271. Over time, the number of bells varied. In 1489, there were at least six. Four were present in the sixteenth century until 1569 when a fifth was added. Beginning in 1678 the bell brought to Venice from Crete after the island was lost to the Ottoman Turks, called the Campanon da Candia, hung in the tower, but it fell to the floor of the belfry in 1722, and was not resuspended. After this time, five bells remained. These were named (from smallest to largest) Maleficio (also Renghiera or Preghiera), Trottiera (also Dietro Nona), Meza terza (also Pregadi), Nona, and Marangona. The historical accounts of the damage to the tower caused by lightning make reference to broken bells, an indication that the bells must have been recast at various times. Nonetheless, the first documented instance concerns the Trottiera, which was recast in 1731. The resulting sound was unsatisfactory, and the bell had to be recast two more times before it harmonized with the older bells. After the designation of St Mark's Basilica as the cathedral of Venice (1807), the Marangona and Renghiera, together with the Campanon da Candia and other bells from former churches, were recast by Domenico Canciani Dalla Venezia into two larger bronze bells between 1808 and 1809, but these were melted with the Meza terza, Trottiera, and Nona in 1820, again by Dalla Venezia, to create a new series of five bells. Of these bells, only the Marangona survived the collapse of the bell tower in 1902.

In various combinations, the bells indicated the times of the day and coordinated activities throughout the city. Four of the bells also had specific functions in relation to the activities of the Venetian government.

The smallest bell, known alternatively as the Renghiera, Maleficio, or Preghiera, signalled public executions by ringing for 30 minutes. The bell had previously been located in the Doge's Palace and is mentioned in connection with the execution for treason of Doge Marin Falier in 1355. In 1569, it was moved to the tower. The earliest name, Renghiera, derived from renga (harangue) in reference to the court proceedings within the Palace. The alternative name of Maleficio, from malus (evil, wicked), recalled the criminal act, whereas Preghiera (prayer) invoked supplications for the soul of the condemned. After the execution, the Marangona was rung for a half hour and then the Meza terza. Whenever capital punishment was ordered by the Council of Ten, the Maleficio rang immediately after the Marangona of sunrise and the sentence was carried out in the morning. Death sentences issued by the Quarantia al Criminal or the Lords of the Night were carried out in the afternoon, the Maleficio ringing immediately after the Dietro Nona ended.

The Marangona announced the sessions of the Great Council. In the event that the council was to meet in the afternoon, the Trottiera first rang for 15 minutes, immediately after Third Hour. After midday, the Marangona resounded (4 series of 50 strokes followed by 5 of 25). The Trottiera then rang continuously for a half hour as a second call for the members of the Great Council, signalling the need to quicken the pace. The name of the bell originated when horses were used in the city. The ringing of the Trottiera was therefore meant to signal the need to proceed at a trot. When the bell ceased, the doors of the council hall were closed and the session began. No latecomers were admitted. Whenever the Great Council convened in the morning, the Trottiera rang the previous evening for 15 minutes after the Marangona marked the end of the day at sunset. The Marangona was then rung in the morning, with the prescribed series of strokes, followed by the Trottiera. To announce the death of the doge and for the funeral, the bells rang in unison (9 series, each series slowly over 12 minutes). For the death of the pope, the bells rang for three days after Third Hour (6 series, each series slowly over 12 minutes). The bells also marked the passing of cardinals and foreign ambassadors who had died in Venice, the dogaressa and sons of the doge, the patriarch and the canons of St Mark's, the procurators of Saint Mark, and the Grand Chancellor (the highest ranking civil servant).

The custodian of the bell tower was responsible for ringing the bells. Nominated for life by the procurators of Saint Mark de supra, he was often succeeded by his sons or, in one instance, by his widow. The salary varied over time and could include a combination of wages, lodgings in the tower, and the use, for sublet or retail activities, of one of the lean to stalls at the base of the tower.

When the lean to stalls were removed from the sides of the bell tower in 1873–1874, the base was discovered to be in poor condition, but restoration was limited to repairing surface damage. Similarly, excavations in Saint Mark's Square in 1885 raised concerns for the state of the foundation and the stability of the structure. Yet inspection reports by engineers and architects in 1892 and 1898 were reassuring that the tower was in no danger. Ensuing restoration was sporadic and primarily involved the substitution of weathered bricks. In July 1902, work was underway to repair the roof of the loggetta. The girder supporting the roof where it rested against the tower was removed by cutting a large fissure, roughly in height and in depth, at the base of the tower. On 7 July, it was observed that the shaft of the tower trembled as workmen hammered the new girder into place. Glass tell tales were inserted into crevices in order to monitor the shifting of the tower. Several of these were found broken the next day. By 12 July, a large crack had formed on the northern side of the tower, running almost the entire height of the brick shaft. More accurate plaster tell tales were inserted into the crevices. Although a technical commission was immediately formed, it determined that there was no threat to the structure. Nevertheless, wooden barricades were erected to keep onlookers at a safe distance as pieces of mortar began to break off from the widening gap and fall to the square below. Access to the tower was prohibited, and only the bell signalling the beginning and end of the work day was to be rung in order to limit vibrations. The following day, Sunday, the customary band in Saint Mark's Square was cancelled for the same reason. The next morning, Monday 14 July, the latest tell tales were all discovered broken; the maximum crack that had developed since the preceding day was At 09:30 the square was ordered evacuated. Stones began to fall at 9:47, and at 9:53 the entire bell tower collapsed. Subsequent investigations determined that the immediate cause of the disaster was the collapse of the access ramps located between the inner and outer shafts of the tower. Beginning at the upper levels, these fell one by one atop the others. Without their support, the outer shaft then caved in against the inner shaft. Because the tower collapsed vertically and due to the tower's isolated position, the resulting damage was relatively limited. Apart from the loggetta, which was completely demolished, only a corner of the historical building of the Marciana Library was destroyed. The basilica itself was unharmed, although the pietra del bando, a large porphyry column from which laws were read, was damaged. The sole fatality was the custodian's cat. That same evening, the communal council convened in an emergency session and voted unanimously to rebuild the bell tower exactly as it had been before the collapse. The council also approved an initial 500,000 lire for the reconstruction. The province of Venice followed with 200,000 lire on 22 July. Although a few detractors of the reconstruction, including the editorialist of the Daily Express and Maurice Barrès, claimed that the square was more beautiful without the tower and that any replica would have no historical value, "dov’era e com’era" ("where it was and how it was") was the prevailing sentiment.

In addition to the sums appropriated by the commune and the province, a personal donation arrived from King Victor Emmanuel III and the queen mother (100,000 lire). This was followed by contributions from other Italian communes and provinces as well as private citizens. Throughout the world, fund raising began, spearheaded by international newspapers. In autumn 1902, work began on clearing the site. The fragments of the loggetta, including columns, reliefs, capitals, and the bronze statues, were carefully removed, inventoried, and transferred to the courtyard of the Doge's Palace. Bricks that could be used for other construction projects were salvaged, whereas the rubble of no use was transported on barges to the open Adriatic where it was dumped. By spring 1903, the site had been cleared of debris, and the remaining stub of the old tower was torn down and the material removed. The pilings of the medieval foundation were inspected and found to be in good condition, requiring only moderate reinforcement. The ceremony to mark the commencement of the actual reconstruction took place on 25 April 1903, St Mark's feast day, with the blessing by the patriarch of Venice Giuseppe Sarto, later Pope Pius X, and the laying of the cornerstone by Prince Vittorio Emanuele, the count of Turin, as the king's representative. For the first two years, work consisted in preparing the foundation which was extended outward by on all sides. This was accomplished by driving in 3076 larch piles, roughly in length and in diameter. Eight layers of Istrian stone blocks were then placed on top to create the new foundation. This was completed in October 1905. The first of the 1,203,000 bricks used for the new tower was laid in a second ceremony on 1 April 1906. To facilitate construction, a mobile scaffold was conceived. It surrounded the tower on all sides and was raised as work progressed by extending the braces. With respect to the original tower, structural changes were made to provide for greater stability and decrease the overall weight. The two shafts, one inside the other, were previously independent of each other. The outer shell alone bore the entire weight of the belfry and spire; the inner shaft only partially supported the series of ramps and steps. With the new design, the two shafts were tied together by means of reinforced concrete beams which also support the weight of the ramps, rebuilt in concrete rather than masonry. In addition, the stone support of the spire was replaced with reinforced concrete, and the weight was distributed on both the inner and outer shafts of the tower. The tower itself was completed on 3 October 1908. It was then in height. The following year work began on the belfry and the year after on the attic. The allegorical figures of Venice as Justice on the eastern and western sides were reassembled from the fragments that had been recovered from the ruins and were restored. The twin effigies of the winged lion of Saint Mark located on the remaining sides of the attic had already been chiselled away and irreparably damaged after the fall of the Venetian Republic at the time of the first French occupation (May 1797 – January 1798). They were completely remade. Work began on the spire in 1911 and lasted until 5 March 1912 when the restored statue of the archangel Gabriel was hoisted to the summit. The new campanile was inaugurated on 25 April 1912, on the occasion of St Mark's feast day, exactly 1000 years after the foundations of the original building had allegedly been laid.

At the time of the reconstruction, the original foundation was extended from approximately to with the objective of distributing the weight of the bell tower on a larger base and reducing the load from to per This was done by driving additional piles into the clay. Three layers of oak planks were then laid on top of the piles followed by multiple layers of Istrian stone blocks. However, the old and the new foundations were not successfully fused into a unified whole, and they began to subside at different rates. As a result, cracks in the new tower were already visible in 1914 and multiplied over time. A monitoring system, installed in 1995, revealed that the tower was leaning by
Beginning in 2007, the Magistrato alle Acque, responsible for public works, reinforced the foundation, adopting a system used to consolidate the façade of St Peter's Basilica in Rome. This involved placing four titanium tension cables, in diameter, around the perimeter of the stone foundation. Two of the cables, placed apart within a single protective polyethylene tube, are located below the surface of the square and are anchored at the four corners of the foundation by titanium pillars. Two more cables are located at a depth of and are held by granite blocks. These cables are monitored and can be tightened as necessary. The project, initially projected to last two and half years, was completed after five years in April 2013.