Padova: Torre Degli Anziani

When we saw a sign at Palazzo della Ragione that the Tower of Elders next door was open for visitors to climb, we immediately added it to our plans.

First mentioned in documents from 1204, the tower predates the construction of the Palazzo della Ragione … making it the city’s oldest surviving civic building. Plastered with white lime at one time, it was known as the Torre Bianca (White Tower) … as opposed to the adjacent Torre Rossa (Red Tower), which was demolished in the early 14th century.

Built as the noble tower of the Camposampiero family, in 1215 it was sold to Padova by Tito VI, a prisoner of war … he needed the money to ransom himself. Converted into a bell tower, it was incorporated into a complex of public buildings, including the Council Building and the Palace of the Elders (in reference to the executive body of the Padovano commune) … hence the name by which the tower is known today.

When we arrived at Torre degli Anziani — crossing the courtyard of Palazzo Moroni … the municipal palace — we were invited to take a seat in the multimedia room. Here we were shown a video that related the history of the tower and the various restoration projects that were undertaken over the centuries

Some of those restorations added embellishments to the original structure. Those, along with earthquakes and a fire, and the tolling of the bells and vibrations from reconstruction work on public buildings nearby, destabilized the tower. In every instance, further work saved it from collapse.

The tower owes its current appearance to a major restoration campaign that was undertaken between 1939-1941, at which time plans were made to protect at least the oldest section of the tower. It remained closed to the public for 75 years … until the most recent reinforcement of the medieval structure, including a new staircase, allowed it to be re-opened in December 2025.

After the video, we were shown to the stairs that led to the observation terrace ~145 feet (44m) above us … and just 190 steps away. At this point, we were outside the tower itself, and it took several flights of stairs for us to reach the original entrance to the tower … ~52.5 feet (16m) above the ground.

The climb, via the new steel staircase, was an easy one. Near the top, there were windows cut out of the tower — covered with netting — that gave us our first glimpses of the views awaiting us. The windows on all four side of the observation platform were also covered with netting, but the give in the net allowed us to easily bypass it for clear shots of the city.

I understand that the max group size for the climb is 20, which would be a fairly tight squeeze, especially since time at the observation terrace is limited to 15 minutes. We were lucky … there were just four of us in our group.

Wonderful views! Worth every step of the climb.Læs mere