Clock Tower of St. Andrew
It is a construction thirty meters high, with a large original base of the Roman-Byzantine period, formerly used as a lighthouse and control tower. In 1386 the clock was placed on a tower near the Praetorian palace; in 1839 it passed into the hands of the parish of Sant’Andrea given the demolition of the old town hall. The expert in medieval contests Aldo Bullo, has studied all the documents of the city’s historical archives in order to reconstruct the history of the watch and the watchmakers. Over the centuries the clock has been modified, in particular with the addition of a pendulum after Galileo. Nonetheless, the structure of the watch has remained almost faithful to the original and is divided into two parts: the front one with the rotismo able to punctuate the time, and the back one with the rotismo that plays every hour. The watch was certainly made by the famous manufacturers of complex mechanical equipment, namely the Dondi family. A dog’s paw is the trademark of the builders. From the top of the tower you can enjoy a spectacular panorama. One of the most important museums in Chioggia is the Clock Museum. The structure is located in the Clock Tower, Bell Tower of the Church of Sant’Andrea used as a lighthouse and watchtower. The Clock Tower houses the Museum since 2006, after a careful restoration of the architecture. The vertical museum is divided into several floors and allows visitors to learn about the history of the city, the Church of Sant’Andrea and the Tower. On the ground floor it is possible to take a tour of the history of the Clock Tower; on the first and second floor are collected maps of the city and documents concerning the Church of Sant’Andrea; on the third floor you can admire ex voto, testimonies of popular faith towards the Madonna dell’Addolorata. The strong point of the Museum is the medieval clock, crowning a time-measuring path that art from astronomical information. The watchmakers were the Dondi, famous for their watches and mechanical equipment with sophisticated mechanisms.
