Torre del Campanone (Civic Tower)
At ten o'clock every night, a bell the size of a small car swings into motion above Piazza Vecchia and counts out one hundred strokes over the rooftops of Bergamo's upper city. The sound travels far — down into the lower town, across the plain — and it has done so, with few interruptions, since 1656. That bell, the Campanone, gives this 52-metre tower its name and its personality.
The tower stands between the Palazzo della Ragione and the Palazzo del Podestà, the tallest structure in the city. Climb the 230 steps (or take the lift to the first terrace) and the view opens wide: the tiled rooftops of Città Alta, the grid of the lower town, and beyond it the Orobie Pre-Alps stacked against the horizon.
💛 What travellers fall for
People who return tend to time their visit for just before ten at night, positioning themselves in Piazza Vecchia to hear the Campanone ring. Standing beneath it rather than inside the tower turns out to be the better choice — the sound at close range is physical, the kind that settles into your chest and stays there.
The story behind Torre del Campanone (Civic Tower)
The tower's origins trace to the mid-12th century, when the Suardi-Colleoni family built it for defence and surveillance. When Bergamo organised itself as an independent commune, the structure passed into public hands alongside the Palazzo del Podestà, becoming civic property and civic symbol in one move. By the late 13th and early 14th centuries it had acquired a bell and a mechanical clock. Prison cells occupied its base during the 1300s.
In 1550, the Municipality of Bergamo raised the tower from 37.7 metres to its current 52.76 metres. The great bell proved harder to cast than to commission: the first attempt in 1652 ended when the mould exploded; the second bell broke after a few months. The third casting, on 23 March 1656, held. Veronese master Bartolomeo Pesenti produced a bell 213 centimetres across and weighing 5,500 kilograms — still the largest historical bell in Lombardy.
Good to know
Take the funicular from the lower city (€1.50, departures every ten minutes from the train station area). The tower is closed Mondays and 25 December. A €9 full ticket covers the tower, Palazzo del Podestà, and Museo del Cinquecento. Tuesday to Friday it closes at 6 pm; weekends and holidays at 7 pm.
Spring, roughly mid-April through early June, gives you mild air and good visibility across the plain — though afternoon thunderstorms build quickly near the Prealps. Summer is hot and can exceed 35°C, with sudden evening storms. Winter is cold, damp, and occasionally snowy, but the tower and its piazza are quieter then, and the bell rings regardless of the season.
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What travellers say about Torre del Campanone (Civic Tower)
Tickets are 9 euro for adults, 2 euro for kids under 18, it’s worth to do, you get the palace (meh) and the tower with lift up to 3rd level and then walk 20 steps to see this view. Close at 6 so best time there is about 90 mins before closing time, no queue and best view. Today 1 May is a public holiday and closed at 6pm. There were only us and another couple of people up there .
The best vantage point in Bergamo! Highly recommended if you would like to get a really nice panoramatic view of Bergamo and it's surroundings. The tower itself has a lift built-in nowadays which takes almost to the very top. You then just need to climb a few steps to get to the bell floor for best possible sightseeing experience.
Probably the highlight of my day in Bergamo! I arrived 5 minutes before they opened the doors and I had the tower for myself for about 10 minutes. The view is truly spectacular! Tickets are only a couple of euros and you can also combine the campanone and the museum inside which was interesting but the view is what makes it so worth visiting!
Such towers were very popular all over northern Italy during the medieval ages. They expressed the wealth of families who built it, but very few remained today. This tower is in the very center of Bergamo upper town, on the main Piazza Vecchia square. Entry ticket of 7 Euros includes climbing the top with an elevator, as well a small archaeological museum down. Views from up (there're two platforms) are stunning, with both upper and lower Bergamo, as well half Lombardy on a clear day
Stopped by the is town on the way from Milan to Garda. It were many things to do, to shop and good food around. Bought 12 Euro ticket/person to go in Campanone which this same ticket can be used to access another 4 museums nearby as well. The exhibition has been presented brilliantly, so we enjoyed everything here a lot. The only down side is that it all in Italian so we had to use translation application most of the time.
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