Description of the attraction
Torre del Mangia is a bell tower in Siena, built in 1338-1348 on the main city square, Piazza del Campo, next to Palazzo Pubblico. When completed, it was the tallest non-church tower in medieval Italy. Today, the 88-meter Torre del Mangia with three-meter thick walls is the second highest after the Torrazzo tower in Cremona.
An interesting point: the tower was built in the same period as the Cathedral of Siena, which became a kind of symbol of the equivalence of secular and ecclesiastical power in the city.
The name of the structure, literally meaning the Tower of the Eater, comes from the nickname of its first guardian, Giovanni di Balduccio, known as Manjaguadagni. He was nicknamed that because he spent all the money he earned on food.
The upper part of the Torre del Mangia was designed by the architect Agostino di Giovanni and designed by Mastro Lippo. The marble covered gallery, known as the Chapel di Piazza, was added in 1352 as the fulfillment of the vow made by the inhabitants of Siena to the Blessed Virgin Mary for deliverance from the terrible plague epidemic. The pilaster acquired its present form in 1378, and a little later it was decorated with sculptures by Mariano d'Angelo Romanelli and Bartolomeo di Tomme. The simple wooden roof that once covered the gallery was replaced by the current Renaissance marble vault in 1461-1468 by Antonio Federighi. He was also the author of extravagant decorations. In 1537-1539, Il Sodoma painted a fresco over the altar, the original of which can be seen today in the City Museum in the Gothic Palazzo Pubblico. A mechanical clock was placed on the tower in 1360.
Today Torre del Mangia is visible from all over Siena. Interestingly, there are several counterparts of this tower all over the world: for example, the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower at the University of Birmingham in the UK; the tower built in 1909 in Waterbury or the Pilgrims Monument in Provincetown in the USA, etc.
