Torre delle Ore

The Torre delle Ore rises above Via Fillungo in Lucca's historic centre. At about fifty metres, it is the city's tallest tower and one of only two medieval towers to retain its full height.

Why it matters

The tower changed from a private family stronghold into a civic timekeeper when the Republic of Lucca purchased it in 1490. Its clock mechanism, commissioned from the Genevan watchmaker Louis Simon in 1752, continues a tradition of public timekeeping recorded in Lucca since the fourteenth century.

What to notice

The clock face has a single star-shaped hand and Roman numerals. Above it, the weather vane bears the word “Libertas” and the date 1754. The visible mechanism, dial and bells reflect the eighteenth-century refitting: the dial is by Sigismondo Caturegli and the bells by Stefano Filippi. A 1754 inscription records the tower's civic identity.

Context and history

The tower belonged to Lucca's medieval noble families before the Republic acquired it from the Diversi family. A city clock is documented from 1390, before the surviving mechanism was commissioned. The traditional Roman system divided the day into four periods of six hours; later, the city adopted twelve-hour timekeeping while retaining the six-hour bell pattern. The Torre delle Ore and the Guinigi Tower remain the two intact high towers of the medieval skyline.