Bentornato! After ten years of restoration conducted underneath a series of imaginative scaffolding coverings that included depictions of the Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building and Tower of Pisa, the newly restored Torre dell’Orologio, or Clock Tower, was celebrated back into our company on May 27th, from 10p to midnight in Piazza San Marco. This photo of the moors here is from their web site, and is definitely a “before” image, as they’re gleaming now…

A few photos from the event. One of my favorite parts were the guys that scaled the walls of the campanile…it seemed if they were moving underwater as they rapelled out in slow motion, in time to the music. I’m so sorry there’s no soundtrack.

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The tower origin dates from 1453, with significant replacements and modifications to the interior movments occurring in the mid-1700s and again in the mid 19th century.

To help preserve these intricate workings, visits to interior will no longer be permitted. But once the restoration is indeed completed, the giant Moors will finally once again be tolling the hours for us from high above, perhaps for another five hundred years. I hope to go this evening, if a recent bout with the flu doesn’t make me reconsider. (Didn’t know you could vogare with a fever, did you?) If I make it, I’ll take photos… And by the way, the Venice Gospel Festival began last Thursday with a gondola concert, is continuing with workshops and competitions, and will finish with a concert of over 300 voices in the San Marco Basilica, no less, at 4:30p on Sunday, May 28th. What a marvelous and surreal event that will be!