The Clock Tower, symbol of Avellino, is a Baroque-style monument that overlooks Piazza Amendola, where the Palazzo della Dogana is located, even if its base is located behind the buildings that protrude onto this square, exactly at the Salita dell 'Clock, near the entrance to the Lombard caves.
Clock Tower seen from Santo Spirito Park, Avellino
The tower is about 36 meters high and has a square ashlar base. Originally it had two floors, with the highest one open. Subsequently, a third level wa read more
The Clock Tower, symbol of Avellino, is a Baroque-style monument that overlooks Piazza Amendola, where the Palazzo della Dogana is located, even if its base is located behind the buildings that protrude onto this square, exactly at the Salita dell 'Clock, near the entrance to the Lombard caves.
Clock Tower seen from Santo Spirito Park, Avellino
The tower is about 36 meters high and has a square ashlar base. Originally it had two floors, with the highest one open. Subsequently, a third level was added, equipped with a clock with bells and the "diana" which struck a hammer in case of danger.
The origin of the structure is disputed. According to tradition, the Tower would have been built on a pre-existing fortress of the ancient walls of Avellino (precisely on a previous watchtower which was in turn built on a previous bell tower). Instead, recently, it has been believed that its construction took place in the seventeenth century, by the will of Prince Francesco Marino Caracciolo. The prince wanted a structure that represented the idea of the new city redesigned by the Caracciolo family and perhaps entrusted the project to Cosimo Fanzago (Clusone, 1591 - Naples, 1678), but documentation on the subject is currently missing. What is really documented is the intervention of the Neapolitan architect Giovan Battista Nauclerio (Naples, 1666 - Naples, 1739). A collaboration between the two artists should be excluded, even if only for a chronological incompatibility, when Fanzago dies, Giovan Battista Nauclerio is just twelve years old.
Given its height and location, the Clock Tower towered over the surrounding buildings and its top is visible from afar, even from the end of via Francesco Tedesco to the east and Corso Vittorio Emanuele II to the west, which make up what was then it was the road axis that brought wheat from Puglia to Naples.
Like all secular monuments, the Clock Tower experienced the consequences of the various earthquakes following its construction in the 17th and 18th centuries. Therefore, it was restored in 1782, using public money, according to what a plaque reads, where you can read the names of the Mayor, Pietro Rossi, and of the Architect, Luigi Maria de Conciliis Conciliis.
The Tower collapsed almost entirely following the earthquake of November 23, 1980, which required a reconstruction with some original elements. read less
