‘As it was, where it was’:
The Fall and Rise of the Campanile of San Marco, Venice.
On Thursday 11 June 2026
An illustrated talk by Sarah Quill
In July 1902 the famous bell-tower of St Mark’s Venice, the city’s totemic symbol, collapsed into a pile of rubble, crushing Sansovino’s sixteenth-century Loggetta beneath it and narrowly missing the slender columns of the Basilica. News of the disaster flashed by telegram round the world, and the shock and distress felt by Venetians at the sudden loss of their landmark campanile was intense.
After an immediate decision by the Mayor that the Campanile would be rebuilt “as it was and where it was”, the programme of recovery, planning and rebuilding of the bell-tower and Loggetta took ten years. Sarah Quill tells the story in this illustrated lecture
About Our Speaker
Sarah Quill has worked for many years between Venice and London to create a photographic archive of Venetian architecture, sculpture and daily life, which is widely used by publishers and scholars. Her book Ruskin’s Venice: The Stones Revisited, was published in 2000, followed by a new and extended edition in 2015, which has recently been translated into Italian. She lectures regularly, principally on Venetian subjects, and is a trustee of the Venice in Peril Fund, the British committee for the preservation of Venice.
The event will commence at 7:30pm at
Assembly Room, Council House, North Street, Chichester
Prices: £10 members and £12 non members
We welcome payment via BACS, to Friends of Ravenna, Barclays Bank, Sort code 20-20-62, account No. 73194604. Please put ‘Campanile’ in the reference area when you make your payment If you prefer to pay by cheque, please send it to ‘The Treasurer’, 9 Dolphin Court, Bognor Regis. PO21 1TP
Enjoy light refreshments and time to chat after the talk
Please book and pay by Friday 5th April so that we have numbers for catering purposes.