Torre dell'Orologio

The Torre dell'Orologio stands on the north side of Piazza San Marco, joined to the eastern end of the Procuratie Vecchie, above the archway where the Merceria leaves the square. Built in the late 15th century, it was positioned so that its clock face could be read from the water -- a statement of Venetian wealth aimed at arrivals by sea as much as at the city itself.

On the terrace at the top, two bronze figures known as the Mori strike the hours on a bell. One is bearded and one beardless, conventionally read as age and youth, and so as the passage of time; the sculptor is thought to have been Antonio Rizzo, while the bell was cast at the Arsenale in 1497 and signed by a founder named Simeone.

Below them a winged Lion of St Mark stands against a blue and gold ground, and below that again a semicircular gallery holds a seated Virgin and Child. The clock face itself sits at street level within a marble circle engraved with the hours in Roman numerals, its dial also carrying the zodiac and the phases of the moon.

The clock was built by the father-and-son team Gian Paolo and Gian Carlo Ranieri; the tower's design is attributed to Mauro Codussi. The Merceria passes beneath the arch at its base, linking the political and religious centre at San Marco to the commercial one at the Rialto, so the tower functions as a monumental gateway to Venice's principal shopping street.

The interior, including the clock mechanism and the roof terrace, can be visited on a guided tour up a steep and narrow staircase.

The staircase inside the tower is steep, narrow, and not accessible to visitors with mobility restrictions -- there is no lift. Because tours are small and pass close to the working clock mechanism, group sizes are kept deliberately limited, which means same-day tickets can sell out during busy periods.

The tower stands on the north side of Piazza San Marco, with the Merceria passing directly beneath its central arch.

• Access: the interior, including the clock mechanism and roof terrace, is visited only as part of a scheduled guided tour, not on a walk-in basis.
• Tickets: booked in advance online or through the Museums of St Mark's Square ticket office, given limited tour group sizes.
• Getting there: directly on Piazza San Marco, reachable on foot from the San Marco vaporetto stops.