The highest bell tower in Venice, St. Mark's Campanile, is one of Venice's most recognisable landmarks and it is so important and so loved by Venetians that they call it 'el paron de casa' (the master of the house). For Venetians the Campanile is a friend and a symbol. In 1902 when it collapsed it was necessary to rebuild it 'com'era e dov'era' (how it was and where it was). The Campanile is almost 100 metres high and according to a legend Venetians have never allowed - not in Venice nor in the nearby villages - the constrution of a higher tower. On top of the Campanile is a golden statue of the Archangel Gabriel which rotates with the wind. When the angel faces the Basilica for the Venetians is the sign that there will be 'acqua alta' (high water).
The initial IX century construction built in this site was possibly a lighthouse later replaced by a clock tower. Throughout the centuries it was renovated and rebuilt numerous times and it assumed its present apparence at the beginning of the XVI century with the addition of the upper structure - the belfry, the attic and the turntable with the golden statue of Garbriel (Bartolomeo Bon the Younger is responsible for these additions). The Loggetta del Sansovino, the highly decorated podium at the entrance at the entrance of the Campanile, was completed in 1549. Born as the meeting place for Venice nobility it was soon turn into a guardhouse for the Arsenale workmen who protected the area while the Maggior Consiglio was sitting. It later served more humble functions and at the end of XVIII it even served as the room in which the state lottery was drawn!
Almost as famous as the Campanile are its five bells. Each had a distinctive function. The 'Marangona', the largest, tolled the beginning and the end of the working day for the Arsenalotti, the 'Trottiera' called the members of the Maggior Consiglio to the council chamber, the 'Nona' rang midday, the 'Mezza Terza' proclaimed a session of the Senate and the smallest, called the 'Renghiera' or the 'Maleficio', announced the executions.
Amongst the famous personalities who have been up the Campanile, they say that in 1452 the Austrian emperor Frederick III climbed up the stairs of the Campanile on his horse and in 1609 Galileo demonstrated his telescope to the Doge Antonio Priuli.
