Civic Tower

The bell tower of the church of Santa Maria Assunta, originally built as a civic tower, existed before the castle walls were built and served both military and religious purposes. The tower called the faithful to services, being equipped with bells and at the same time served to monitor the surrounding area. According to sources, at the end of the 13th century the Collegiate Church still did not have a bell tower and for this reason it was decided to insert two small bells from the town of Conca into the high wall of the façade, aligned with the main door. The tower, built for military needs, was completed in 1356, but from a careful analysis of the wall structures combined with comparison with archival and oral sources it is possible to place the start of construction of the building in the mid-13th century, in conjunction with the construction of the church of Santa Maria Assunta. : Supporting this thesis are the observations of Canon Pietro Bianchi who, at the time of the restoration of the Collegiate Church in 1915, wrote a report in which continuity is recorded between the foundation of the tower and that of the adjacent church. After the start of the work to raise the bell tower, it seems that these stopped in the 13th century at the height of the lower nave of the Collegiate Church and were only resumed in the 14th century, after the attack of Visconti's troops in 1329. From the observation of the masonry fabric of the tower it can easily be deduced that the bell tower was built in two distinct phases using two different techniques. The first phase probably dates back to the period of the foundation, the second dates back to the mid-14th century, in particular to the years between 1350 and 1356. The date 1350 is engraved in Roman numerals on a stone placed above the ashlar of the tower and indicates the start of the construction work. It was inserted by Bianco Bianchi, a 16th century doctor based on the contracts that record the 14th century interventions on the tower 'Since there is no record of the time it was built, I had it carved in the year 1521 as it is seen, finding the time of its construction in the contracts of ser Pietro Manfredi da Camaiore'. As early as 1428 the tower also had the public clock for which a special room was built. Above this was located - and still is located - the room of the torrigiani or guardians who had the task of carrying out the surveillance service in exchange for a salary. Regarding these figures, a document from 1428 reports: 'Bartolomeo Jacobi Pellegrini, Pierus de Carcascionne, custodes campanilis pro eorum salario dicti trimestri, L. 32. soldi 8'.

The building rises over thirty-three meters above a base of rusticated stones. It has 5 flights of stairs with 86 steps in worn stone and at its top is completed by a dome, above which there was a lantern with the clock bell inside. The bells are preserved today in the bell chamber, located under the dome and built in the 15th century. One of the bells comes from the ruins of the Montecastrese castle and was recast in 1740, reusing the same bronze. The other three date back to 1825, 1835 and 1910 respectively. Observing it from the outside, on the side facing Piazza San Bernardino, the tower has a narrow slit at the bottom, formerly surmounted by a Romanesque window now closed by the clock. Even higher up is a large window repeated in the eastern façade. Finally, on the third floor, there are four large windows, one on each side of the bell chamber. Starting from the back side - where the cemetery once was - an external staircase leads to the ordinary entrance of the tower. Here the internal staircase opens, wedged between two walls. On the first level is the entrance to the room of the tower keepers and, beyond it, on the left the step that leads to the roof of the church. Furthermore, along the staircase, there are several slits that allowed to control the various accesses to the city, and some hinges are visible, remains of the ancient internal closures that allowed to barricade oneself in case of siege.