Bell towers

Bell towers

Total number	107

This page is an overview of all the bell towers in Venice. For a typical bell tower, see Bell Tower.

This section needs improvement. Venice 106 bell towers. These towers contain anywhere from 0-9 Bells. There are different styles of bell towers throughout Venice, mainly dependent on the time periods in which they were constructed. A bell tower is typically named based on the church_LINK it is associated with.

History

This section needs improvement.

Statistics

Since 1992, the Venice Project Center has collected data on 41 of the 110 bell towers in Venice. While each tower does not have a complete set of data, several fields are almost if not completely filled.

Sestiere

Castello is the sestiere with the most bell towers at 18, while Burano, with only one tower, has the least. Technically speaking, there are several islands that have no bell tower at all, but of the islands that have bell towers, Burano has the least. Below is a graph showing the percentage of bell towers in each sestiere.

Towers by Sestiere

As would be expected, the highest number of bell towers can be found on the main islands of Venice, particularly in Castello, Cannaregio, and Dorsuduro. The sestiere of Giudecca and Murano have almost as many bell towers as the main island districts of San Polo and Santa Croce. As is expected, the outlying islands have the lowest number of bell towers. Presumably the areas with a higher concentration of churches are in the areas with a higher population density.

Height

The shortest tower, Santa Eufemia, is only 10m tall. The tallest tower is San Marco, at a whopping 98m in height. Below is a graph of the various tower heights.

Heights of towers

The majority of towers are between 40 and 70 meters tall. For a bell tower this makes sense because the ultimate goal is to be able to hear the bells from some distance away. Between 0 and 40 meters the sound would get obstructed by surrounding buildings and wouldn’t travel very far. However, go too high and the sound has farther to travel and will dissipate considerably before reaching the ground.

Bells

The tower of San Giorgio di Maggiore has 9 bells, the most in the city. With only two bells, Santa Maria di Nazateth Scalzi has the least. Once again, there are towers with no bells, but those are not included in the count. A graph with the number of bells in each tower is below.

Bells per Tower

Interestingly enough, the number of bells per tower forms an approximate bell curve peaking at 4. The reason for that is most likely musical. Three notes create a chord. In most cases, changing only one note in the chord can produce an entirely different sound. While three bells can produce one chord, having four means the tower can ring four different chords by changing which bell is silent. Another possibility is the size and shape of the belfry. Many of the towers have square belfries. Bell hangings are large and cumbersome, so having more than one per side may not be possible in some cases.
For more facts about bells, see Bells

Map of Bell Towers

<display_map height=600 zoom=14 centre=45.440155,12.345403> 45.4323566,12.3188206|Bell Tower of San Angelo Raffaele |Bell Tower of Santi Gervasio e Protasio 45.43501243,12.3239859|Bell Tower of Santa Margherita 45.4423664,12.3774978|Bell Tower of Sant'Erosia 45.4280143,12.3809652|Bell Tower of San Nicolò del Lido 45.4980919,12.4196786|Bell Tower of Santa Maria Assunta di Torcello 45.4340354,12.3390460 Bell Tower of Basilica di San Marco 45.4396126,12.3392768|Bell Tower of Santa Maria dei Miracoli 45.4313948,12.3012726|Bell Tower of Ognissanti di Pellestrina 45.4294827,12.3438114|Bell Tower of San Giorgio Maggiore in Isola |Bell Tower of San Canciano 45.4171964,12.3690657|Bell Tower of Santa Maria Elisabetta 45.4319685,12.3244826|Bell Tower of Eremite di San Giuseppe 45.4270065,12.3391636|Bell Tower of Santa Maria della Presentazione 45.4333027,12.3319441|Bell Tower of Santo Stefano di Murano |Bell Tower of Santa Eufemia 45.4329587,12.3361009|Bell Tower of San Moise' Profeta |Bell Tower of San Pietro Apostolo 45.4434603,12.3392431|Bell Tower of Santa Maria Assunta dei Gesuiti 45.4342538,12.3589599|Bell Tower of San Pietro |Bell Tower of Santi Ermagora e Fortunato 45.4344731,12.3433531|Bell Tower of San Zaccaria 45.4356841,12.3324753|Bell Tower of San Benedetto 45.4586108,12.3602375|Bell Tower of Torre dei Baini 45.4376485,12.3363666|Bell Tower of San Bartolomeo 45.4583877,12.3486466|Bell Tower of Santa Maria degli Angeli 45.4375508,12.3331982|Bell Tower of San Silvestro 45.4357351,12.3248917|Bell Tower of San Pantaleone 45.4491356,12.3470493|Bell Tower of San Michele |Bell Tower of Ognissanti 45.4403225,12.3273252|Bell Tower of San Giacomo dell'Orio |Bell Tower of Sant'Eustachio 45.4254298,12.3230490|Bell Tower of Santi Cosmo e Damiano 45.43237785,12.31566479|Bell Tower of San Nicolo dei Mendicoli 45.4839266,12.4060073|Bell Tower of Santa Caterina di Mazzorbo |Bell Tower of San Marciliano 45.4341933,12.34485933|Bell Tower of Santa Maria della Visitazione 45.4552157,12.3523294|Bell Tower of San Pietro Martire 45.4370433,12.3250271|Bell Tower of San Rocco |Bell Tower of San Leone IX pp. 45.4323835,12.4104414|Bell Tower of Sant'Erasmo |Bell Tower of Sant'Angelo |Bell Tower of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari 45.4335523,12.3281144|Bell Tower of San Samuele Profeta |Bell Tower of Sant'Ubaldo |Bell Tower of San Geremia e Lucia |Bell Tower of S. Cristoforo |Bell Tower of San Giovanni di Rialto 45.4433516,12.3365896|Bell Tower of Santa Caterina 45.4319683|Bell Tower of San Sebastiano 45.43511718,12.31714777|Bell Tower of Santa Maria Maggiore |Bell Tower of San Giobbe e Barnardino |Bell Tower of San Martino di Castello |Bell Tower of Santo Stefano Profeta 45.43529914,12.3445328|Bell Tower of San Giorgio dei Greci |Bell Tower of San Giovanni Decollato 45.44116934,12.34293069|Bell Tower of San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti |Bell Tower of Santa Maria della Consolazione 45.4383174,12.3159849|Bell Tower of Sant'Andrea Apostolo |Bell Tower of San Giovanni Nuovo 45.2826964,12.3027006|Bell Tower of Sant'Antonino 45.4409967,12.3349043|Bell Tower of Santa Sophia 45.43992825,12.33027466|Bell Tower of Santa Maria Mater Domini |Bell Tower of Malamocco 45.4381825,12.3486423|Bell Tower of San Francesco de la Vigna 45.4418780,12.3332981|Bell Tower of S. Felice 45.432589,12.3542966|Tower of San Francesco di Paula |Bell Tower of Santi Simone e Giuda |[[Bell Tower of San Giuliano ] 45.4371679,12.3407730|Bell Tower of Santa Maria Formosa 45.4474585,12.3293570|Bell Tower of S. Alvise |Bell Tower of Santa Maria Assunta del Carmelo 45.4247764,12.3324751|Bell Tower of Santissimo Redentore 45.3175159,12.3162271|Bell Tower of San Paolo Apostolo 45.4355655,12.3377276|Bell Tower of Santa Croce degli Armeni 45.4398159,12.3324059|Bell Tower of San Cassiano 45.4330995,12.3160925|Bell Tower of Santa Teresa 45.4382155,12.3261180|Bell Tower of San Giovanni Evangelista |Bell Tower of San Giuseppe 45.4429493,12.3324341|Bell Tower of Santa Fosca |Bell Tower of S. Maria e Donati 45.4332595,12.3256554|Bell Tower of San Barnaba 45.4376376,12.3222354|Bell Tower of San Nicolò da Tolentino 45.4251732,12.3306455|Bell Tower of Santissima Trinità |Bell Tower of Sant'Antonio |Bell Tower of S. Bonaventura Capuccine 45.4322898,12.3295463|Bell Tower of S. Vitale 45.4416413,123217913|Bell Tower of Santa Maria di Nazareth 45.4440875,12.33515582|Bell Tower of Abbazia di Valverde |Bell Tower of Santa Maria del Rosario 45.4404149,12.3365296|Bell Tower of S. Apostoli |Bell Tower of San Luva ev. 45.4273187,12.3657937|Bell Tower of S. Elena |Bell Tower of San Simeone Profeta 45.4380458,12.3323134|Bell Tower of Sant'Aponallinare |Bell Tower of S. Martino Vescovo 45.43922864,12.3445328|Bell Tower of San Giovanni Crisostomo 45.4364099,12.3366913|Bell Tower of Ss. Salvatore 45.4303681,12.3346371|Bell Tower of Santa Maria della Salute </display_map>

See Also

• Bell Tower
  
• Bells
  
• Bell
  
• Bell Ringing
  

External Links

• Wikipedia Bell tower page
• UNESCO
• The Churches of Venice, with Bell Tower information on each church page