Visit Giotto's Campanile

Campanile means a bell tower, especially one near but not attached to a church or other public building.



As mentioned, Leaning Tower of Pisa is a bell tower/campanile too and in fact one wonders why the hoo-huh for Leaning Tower of Pisa when campaniles are plentiful to be seen in Italy, probably because that one slants.

Giotto's Campanile on the other hand, stands upright and adjacent to the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore and the Baptistry of St. John and is one of the showpieces of the Florentine Gothic architecture with its design by Giotto, its rich sculptural decorations and the polychrome marble encrustations.

This slender structure stands on a square plan with a side of 14.45 meters and a height of 84.7 meters sustained by four polygonal buttresses at the corners. These four vertical lines are crossed by four horizontal lines, dividing the tower in five levels amounting to 414 steps and which gives you a panoramic view of the Duomo and Florence.

In some sense the sight should be the same as the Duomo's but with a view of the cathedral itself. Thus it is entirely up to you whether you wish to climb both the Campanile and the Duomo or either one.

Opening Hours: 8:30 am - 7:30 pm
Closed on January 1, Easter, September 8, Christmas
Admission: €6