Torre dell'Orologio

Venice · Italy · Tower

Legend says the republic had the eyes of the Rainieri clockmakers put out, so that no other city would ever get a clock quite like it.

The clock on St Mark's Square opened to the public on 1 February 1499 and was a marvel: mechanics, mathematics and astronomy in one, with two bronze Moors striking the hour on top. The work was entrusted to the Rainieri family of clockmakers from Reggio Emilia. The legend Venetians have repeated for five hundred years says that once the work was done the republic had the eyes of father and son Rainieri torn out, so that they could never build the like for another city. It does not hold historically: Gian Carlo Rainieri was in fact paid a salary to maintain the clock and lived with his family inside the tower. From that post grew the figure of the temperatore, the keeper, who lived in the tower right up to 1998.

FAQ

Where is Torre dell'Orologio located?

Torre dell'Orologio is in Venedig, Italy.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.