Campanile di San Marco (St. Mark's Bell Tower), Venice

Venice’s tallest bell tower has been keeping an eye on the city since the 12th century, back when it worked double duty as both belfry and lighthouse. Over the centuries, it was tweaked, adjusted, and improved until the 16th century crowned it with its golden angel, calmly rotating with the wind. In its working days, this tower ran on a strict sound schedule: the biggest bell marked the start and end of the workday, another bell chimed at noon, while two others called senators and council members to meetings, and the smallest one delivered the most unwelcome message of all—news of an upcoming execution...

It was also a place for scientific show-and-tell. In 1609, Galileo Galilei climbed up here to demonstrate his telescope to the Venetian Doge, offering a glimpse not just of distant objects, but of a future shaped by observation and discovery. A plaque near the observation deck quietly marks that moment.

Then came the tower’s most dramatic scene: on July 14, 1902, after letting out a final bell sound, the Campanile collapsed. Café patrons in the square below dropped their coffee cups and ran for their lives, while Venice lost its tallest landmark in a cloud of dust...

The city’s response was simple and very Venetian: rebuild it exactly “where it was and how it was.” Today’s Campanile looks quite similar to its predecessor but is far more visitor-friendly. Instead of tight spiral stairs, there’s an elevator that lifts you smoothly to the top—no medieval endurance test involved...

At 99 meters high, it’s still Venice’s tallest structure, offering wide views over St. Mark’s Basilica, the rooftops, and the lagoon stretching outward. On clear evenings, the horizon seems to keep going. And if heights aren’t your thing, standing below and looking up still delivers a proper sense of scale—plus a reminder that Venice has always liked to think big...