Torre dei Mori

Sacile's Torre dei Mori no longer stands. The clock tower at the Portus Sacili landing was also known as the Torre del Porto and Torre dell'Orologio; it was demolished in 1939 after severe earthquake damage. Its recorded history preserves the changing life of the town's eastern gate.

Why it matters

The tower stood over the castellan gate between the Porto and Borgo Ricco, where boats ascending the Livenza reached the walled town. Its names recall its roles as landing tower, clock tower and home to the wooden figures that struck the hours. Marin Sanudo described those figures in 1483, comparing them with the clock figures at San Zuane di Rialto.

What to notice

Although the structure is gone, its civic history is unusually detailed. The two wooden Moors struck a bell cast in 1397. In the sixteenth century the council paid ten ducats for a clock; the tower was reformed in 1582. After Caporetto in 1917, occupying Austro-Hungarian troops burned the figures and took the bells. In 1927 the Comune commissioned a replacement bell and a new pair of Moors.

Context and history

The tower was built in the fourteenth century over the castellan gate, replacing an older Porto tower rebuilt in 1477 under podestà Vittorio Zancanaro. An earthquake on 18 October 1936 severely damaged it. The tower was cut down to the clock face while its fate was considered, then demolished in early 1939 as traffic concerns prevailed over restoration. The wooden Moors and clock mechanism were salvaged; the municipal publication La Torre Ritrovata preserves its history.