Torre di Lamberti

The Torre di Lamberti is the big tower in Verona. As I noted in the last blog, with Molly, Allie and Amanda, I finally got the opportunity to go up the tower so lets start climbing!

Construction of the tower began in 1172 and the tower stood tall until 1403 when it was struck by lightning. The lightning knocked down the tower and it remained in ruin until restoration works began on it 1448. During the restoration, the tower was enlarged a bit. However, the architects decided to not use the same materials as the original so the most recent sections of the tower can be recognized by some of the different materials (like marble). In 1779, the giant clock was added.

Originally, the tower was fairly modest in height and had two bells- one to signal a fire and the second, larger one to signal meetings of the city council and to call the citizens to arms to defend the city. The expansion and addition of the giant clock made the tower, “is a stem of light, that elevates its solemnity to assert the most shrill of songs to the beauty and life of a Verona gathered beneath its maternal protection”.

Today the tower is 84 meters high and can be climbed by hiking up some 368 steps . Yes, that is indeed a good number of steps up a tower that’s base is 900 years old. For those would be less than excited to make a hike to see a view from a top of a tower, have no fear for there is an elevator that eliminates the first 243 steps. The remaining 125 steps is extremely manageable and provides a wonderful view of Verona.

Our assent to the top of the tower was far from glitch free, however. When we first got going, Amanda’s purse got caught on the turnstile and that provided a great number of laughs for the rest of us as Amanda fought her way out.

The journey was very cool and made for a fun trip. It provided a good opportunity to get to know Allie and Amanda more as well as give a couple good photo opportunities. 

When we got to the top, we read a sign that cautioned us that the bells are very loud and chime on the half hour and hour. With only a few minutes until the half hour mark, we took a vote to decide if we would stay and listen or not. Molly and I voted to stay, Allie preferred to go down while Amanda abstained, giving us the victory. 

The tower we were in was a bit of a dud, with only a single chime of the bell but our vantage point gave us a great chance to listen to the bells of the city.

We took a few more pictures from the top and then decided to head town. Molly, Allie and I decided to take the elevator down to preserve our feet for Venice but Amanda decided to trek down all the 368 steps. Oddly enough, it took the same amount of time for Amanda to walk down as it did for the elevator to get down to the bottom. She claims she didn’t run but I still don’t know about that.

All in all, finally getting to the top of the Torre di Lamberti was very cool. It helped fulfill my goal to get on the top of a tower (or the highest point) in as many places as possible. It was a great time and definitely something I will remember for the rest of my life.