Campanile di San Marco

St Mark's Campanile (Italian: Campanile di San Marco; Venetian: Canpanièl de San Marco) is the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy, located in the Piazza San Marco. It is one of the most recognizable symbols of the city.

The tower is 98.6 metres (323 ft) tall, and stands alone in a corner of St Mark's Square, near the front of the basilica. It has a simple form, the bulk of which is a fluted brick square shaft, 12 metres (39 ft) wide on each side and 50 metres (160 ft) tall, above which is a loggia surrounding the belfry, housing five bells. The belfry is topped by a cube, alternate faces of which show the Lion of St. Mark and the female representation of Venice (la Giustizia: Justice). The tower is capped by a pyramidal spire, at the top of which sits a golden weathervane in the form of the archangel Gabriel(the one in the nativity). The campanile reached its present form in 1514. The current tower was reconstructed in its present form in 1912 after the collapse of 1902.

The initial 9th-century construction, initiated during the reign of Pietro Tribuno (887-912) and built on Roman foundations, was used as a watch tower or lighthouse for the dock, which then occupied a substantial part of the area which is now the Piazzetta. Construction was finished in the twelfth century, during the reign of Domenico Morosini. Adjoining the base of the campanile is the loggetta built by Sansovino, completed in 1549 and rebuilt in 1912 after it had been destroyed by the fall of the campanile. One of the models for the tower was the St. Mercuriale's Campanile, in Forlì.

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