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The tower known as the Gardello was a 13th-century tower house, located between Via Rosa and Corso Santa Anastasia. The name was later extended as a reference to the 44-metre-high bell tower that Cansignorio della Scala erected in 1370, to house a striking clock. The clock marked the time in the square known as Piazza delle Erbe. An inscription recalls the patron: "Tempore, marmoream/ quo Cansignorius urbam rexit/ lege pius, turrim distinxit et horas/ Scaliger, aeternis titulis qui digna peregit, / bis septem lustris anni in mille trecentis" ("The pious Cansignorio, worthy of eternity, had the tower and the clock erected in 1370, at the time when he held the marble city with the force of law"). The reference to the marble city celebrated an architectural tradition of Verona dating back to the Roman period, which Cansignorio wanted to continue. The tower’s bronze bell, now housed in the Castelvecchio Museum, was forged with great skill by the master bellfounder Jacopo: the note emitted by the bell is a slightly flat F3, the mouth has a diameter of 128 cm and its total weight is estimated at approximately 1,800 kg. The bronze surface is decorated with the profile of St Zeno Bishop, the city's patron saint. On the lower edge it bears an inscription recording the author, the patron and the date, 25 July 1370. The belfry was altered in the 15th and 17th centuries (as indicated by the 1620 epigraph affixed to the tower by the Venetian captain Domenico Barbarigo), and a mechanical clock was added.
Piazza Erbe, 40, 37121 Verona VR, Italy
