CLOCK TOWER (Torre dell’orologio)

HISTORICAL NOTES AND DESCRIPTION

We do not have much information regarding the Clock Tower. Built close to what must have been the ancient fortress, which in the past was accessed through a door that could be identified with the one walled up at the base of the Clock Tower itself, in 1471 it was provided with the clock from which it takes its name.

Probably the current tower was built in the fortified walls already before the end of the fifteenth century incorporated into the castle walls, a period in which the Town Hall was built, between the ancient fortress and the square in front. The chronicles of Vitorchiano by the chronicler of the sixteenth century. Curzio Gobbino, indicating the castle walls (the first enclosure), made of gray peperino, extracted from ancient quarries and from the excavation of the ditches with their first restoration in 1217, commissioned by the Roman Senate. A few years later, Vitorchiano was completely destroyed. Close to the following years, the reconstruction in 1233 of the second wall and the consolidation of the first, could lead us to hypothesize its first construction. A plaque at the bottom of the tower bears an inscription in carved Gothic characters from 1320, which carries a municipal ban prohibiting murderers and traitors from residing in the municipality. The plaque could be a direct indication of the existence of the building as early as the early fourteenth century. Unfortunately, it is not known whether the construction of the tower had already taken place for the entire elevation or the plaque and the wall at the base of the tower must have belonged to another body of the building which was later transformed. Another walled element near the same tombstone could help us in a chronological framework of the building. It is a fragment of a carved shelf, on which an engraved date “1549” appears. Incorporated into the masonry of the building, it could result as a pre-Quem term of reference. The construction or rebuilding of the structure may have seen an intervention after the date engraved on the stone. This could be a conditio sinequa not as long as it is a waste material, in fact reused from pre-existing buildings.

However, for a certain date, the only chronological reference of the tower is the ante quem term available for the laying of the clock which took place at the end of the 15th century. Therefore, both for the tombstone and for the fragment of the carved shelf, it will be necessary to look for a documentary testimony that testifies a date of reuse with works carried out in the past of restructuring or consolidation at the base of the tower. The tower was recently the subject of a restoration project carried out thanks to the contributions of the Lazio Region, as part of an extraordinary three-year program of public works for local regional development.

The restoration, included within the rehabilitation works of the municipal building, carried out by the Ciancolini Administration, lasted less than two years, and returned to the building and the clock tower their value, with renovations and of redevelopment completed in May 2008. The quadrilateral tower is 16 m high and is named for the presence of the city clock. On the top there is a triangular tympanum with a fluted frame and surmounted by a metal cross with flag. The tympanum is supported by volute buttresses in peperino, while in the center it houses two round arches, inside which two bronze bells of different sizes are installed. The façade of the tympanum is not decorated, but simply stuccoed, characterized, in the center, by horizontal pilasters in peperino, also applied to the column that separates the two arches. Below is the white clock, square in shape, on which the hours in Roman numerals and the minutes stand out in black. At the corners of the dial there are decorations with the symbol of the lily in the center, which we also find, smaller, between one number and another. Further down the rectangular sundial, made with white ceramic tiles, painted at the four corners with colored spirals. At the top of the sundial is the metal gnomon that projects the position of the sun during the day onto the dial, consisting of meridians and parallels. On the long side of the sundial, at the bottom, the motto “Sine Sole Sileo” has been painted. Below the sundial, inside the rectangular niche with aedicule, decorated in the center with the face of a winged putto in relief, behind a stained glass window, is the terracotta statue of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. The Virgin stands on a cloud, under which is a cherub’s face and a crescent moon. Our Lady wears a red robe and is wrapped in a blue cloak as she keeps her hands crossed on her chest. A balcony, supported by three buttresses, highlights the niche itself and is flanked on both sides by the Italian flag and that of the European Community. At the base of the Tower there is a plaque with an inscription in carved Gothic characters from 1320, which shows a municipal ban prohibiting murderers and traitors from staying in the Municipality. Immediately below a small window with grate. On the left side of the tower there is the access door to the current Tourist Office of the city close to the snow gate.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

FERRO G., Le mura medievali di Vitorchiano, in “Le mura medievali del Lazio. Studi sull’area viterbese”, Roma 1993, pp. 61-75.

D’Arcangeli V., Vitorchiano, in “Tuscia viterbese. I Comuni”, vol II, 1968, pp. 473-476.

M. T. Sciarra, Santuario di S. Michele Arcangelo in Vitorchiano e il bosco sacro, Viterbo 2010.

http://www.regione.lazio.it/binary/rl_bilancio/tbl_contenuti/Delibera_PTS_n_861_del_21_11_08.pdf

http://www.tusciaweb.it/notizie/2008/maggio/8_10vitorchiano.htm

Special thanks to Dr. Andrea Presutti for scientific advice and archival photographic material provided on Vitorchiano.