1063 AD, Pomposa added a fundamental element to the life of the monastery and the surrounding communities: the bell tower.
Built next to the left side of the Basilica, the square-based tower watches over the surrounding area, sister to the Abbey in its colours and decorations. Nine brick modules start from the base and rise, including the top, to a height of 48 metres.
The variety of colours of the bricks, ranging from red to yellow ochre, depends on the composition of the clay available in the area, the amount of iron in it and the variable percentage of oxygen during firing.
The bands of bricks are enlivened at every level by string-course cornices (also with “sawtooth” bands) and by an alternating sequence of pilasters and half-columns closed by pairs of hanging arches. These elements are all similar but not identical in distribution, width and decoration. The arrangement of the bricks in horizontal, diagonal and vertical combinations animates the surfaces of the bell tower, in a balanced alternation of lines and full/empty spaces.
On each side of the four lower orders there is a single lancet window, a double lancet window on the fifth, a triple lancet window on the sixth and seventh, and a four-lancet window on the last two.
The width of the openings increases as the height of the building increases in order to lighten, along with the aesthetics, the layout and the structural heaviness. On the sea side, the loggias under the belfry have been walled up over time to prevent damage from wet winds.
From this opening, the sound of the bells spread out in all directions, just as the sun’s rays partly illuminated the internal path of ascent. From the topmost polyphore chamber, imminent dangers and emergencies could be signalled with fires and lamps.
The light that shone through them had a twofold appeal: the proclamation of the Gospel message and a visual reference for sailors seeking the mouth of the Adriatic to sail up the river.
From even further away come the ceramic basins of Islamic origin that are set on the sides of the bell tower, marking the changes of level or the area above the openings, in correspondence with the small columns and pillars that support them. Re-used stone elements, carved and uncarved, are used throughout the structure, as was often the case in medieval times, recovering a part of the past to give life to the present.
The marble slab on the western side of the tower commemorates the time of its construction and the name of the person who directed the work, the master builder Deusdedit, who succeeded in giving rhythm, proportion and order to the diversity, combining stability, power and harmony. A later addition to his commission was the terminal part of the bell tower, added in the 14th century, also in the shape of a cone made of bricks.

– cover shot by Roberto Romagnoli –