Torre dell'Orologio Site Features

The Mori

The two bronze figures on the terrace have struck the hours since 1497. They are not identical: one strikes shortly before the hour and the other shortly after, a distinction that once let listeners across the piazza tell whether the hour had just arrived or just passed.

The Magi procession

On the Epiphany and through Ascension week, doors on either side of the Virgin open and carved figures of the Magi, led by an angel, process past her and bow before disappearing into the other side -- a mechanism dating in concept to the tower's earliest years and among the oldest of its kind still operating.

The astronomical dial

The face is not only a clock. Its rings track the position of the sun through the zodiac and the phase of the moon, information of direct practical value in a port city where sailing depended on both the calendar and the tides.