Campanile di San Marco

Venice's tallest tower — 98 metres, a lift, and the best view in the city

The Campanile is the tallest structure in Venice at 98 metres, and the view from the top is the best way to understand the city's geography — the islands, the lagoon, the distant Alps, and the whole tangle of the historic centre laid out below. A lift takes you to the top; queues can be long in high summer.

The tower stood on this spot in various forms from the 9th century. The version that collapsed in 1902 had been showing cracks for some time but the speed of its fall surprised everyone. The lion of St Mark and the archangel Gabriel from the original tower survived and are displayed in the Correr Museum nearby. The bells in the current campanile are the same bells — they were excavated from the rubble.

things to do san marco sight
A story
The original campanile stood for nearly a thousand years before it collapsed suddenly on 14 July 1902, folding straight down into its own footprint without damaging the basilica beside it. Venice rebuilt it exactly as it was — "com'era, dov'era" (as it was, where it was) — and reopened it in 1912. The new campanile is an exact copy of the old one.

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