THE CIVIC TOWER 
 

The bell tower of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta was first a civic tower and already existed before the erection of the castle walls. It was charged with both military and religious functions: it permitted monitoring the surroundings and thanks to its bells it gathered the worshippers for the Mass. According to the documents, at the end of the thirteenth century the Collegiata was not yet provided with a bell tower and for this reason two little bells from the village of Conca were inserted on the top of the facade. The tower - originally erected for military purposes - was concluded in 1356, but by comparing the analysis of the walls with archival sources, it was possible to establish that its construction started in the half of the thirteenth century, thus like that of the nearby church. This theory is supported by the observations of canon Pietro Bianchi in a report he wrote during the restoration of the church in 1915. What is registered in the document is the fact that the foundation of the Collegiata and that of the civic tower are linked together and were built at the same time. After its start in the thirteenth century, the construction of the civic tower seems to have temporarily stopped in the thirteenth century when the height of the tower corresponded to that of the church aisles. Works were restarted only in the fourteenth century after the attack of the troops led by lord Visconti in 1329. By examining the wall of the tower, two main phases can be easily distinguished because of the different techniques used. The first one is thought to date back to the period of the foundation, while the second one to the fourteenth century, specifically between 1350 and 1356. The year 1350, indicating the start of the work in the second phase, is also engraved on a stone located on the outer wall of the tower. Who wanted it to be inserted was Bianco Bianchi, a sixteenth-century doctor from Camaiore who deduced that that was the year of the beginning of the work by consulting some thirteenth-century contracts. In 1428 the tower was provided with its clock. On the floor right above the clock, there was – and still is – the watchmen’s room. They – who are also known as "torrigiani" – had to monitor the civic tower in exchange for a salary.

The building reaches thirthy-three metres in height and stands upon a basement made of ashlar stones. It is equipped with five staircases consisting of eighty-six stone steps. On the top it is covered with a dome and a roof lantern which once contained the bell tower clock. The bells are now preserved in the fifteenth-century belfry, right below the dome. One of the bells comes from the ruins of the castle of Montecastrese and was refunded in 1740, reusing the same material. The three remaining bells are respectively dated 1825, 1835 and 1910. On the front opening onto San Bernardino square, the bell tower is provided with a loophole in the lower part and originally with a large Romanesque window, now closed by the clock. Above it, there is another large window and an identical one is located on the eastern side. Lastly, on the third floor the belfry is surrounded by four wide windows. From the back side – where once the cemetery was located – a staircase leads to the main entrance to the tower. The internal staircase is contained between two walls and two main accesses open along it: the one, leading to the watchmen’s room and the other to the roof of the church. Moreover, going up, we can notice many loopholes through which it was possible to supervise the city and some hinges used to barricade oneself in case of siege.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abela, Elisabetta, edited by, La Torre Civica di Camaiore. Anatomia di un monumento, Pacini Editore, Pisa, 2019