Torre dell'Orologio

The clock tower over Piazza dei Signori carries one of the oldest astronomical clocks in Europe, first built in 1344 and rebuilt in 1428 after the original was destroyed. Its gilded dial shows the hour, the phase of the moon and the sun's position in the zodiac -- and it shows only eleven zodiac signs, which is what most people end up talking about.

Standing back in the square is the only way to see the dial properly, and it is a public space with no charge and no crowding problem.

The mechanism is medieval and still running; interior visits are small-group by necessity rather than exclusivity.

The dial is visible free from the square at any hour. Interior visits to the mechanism run occasionally rather than daily and are usually booked through the city's museum service. The tower sits in the ZTL, fifteen minutes on foot from the railway station.