La Ghirlandina (Modena)

Modena’s pride and symbol is its mighty, if slightly askew Cathedral campanile called the Ghirlandina. This, like much of the sculpture in the church itself, is a creation of the Campionese masters.

They got the lower part up in a single year (1169), and then left their grandsons the job of finishing the octagonal spire (completed 1319), built to ensure the campanile would be taller than any of the towers of Bologna. The spire accounts for almost half the tower’s 282ft, making it the third-tallest campanile in Italy, after those of Cremona and Venice.

The tower’s name is often explained as referring to the ‘garland’ of arcading around the base of the spire, though another version says that the tower was originally La Ghiraldina, and that the Modenese were comparing their work to the most famous tower of the medieval world: La Giralda, the minaret of the Great Mosque of Seville.