Torre delle Ore - In 1390 the General Council of Lucca decided to have built an "orologio bonum, sufficienter aptum et bene distinguentes tempus per horas" which was to be placed on the tower of the "Quartigiani" or "Diversi" in Via Fillungo. However, the tower was not acquired until the year 1490 when it was renamed the Civic Tower and when a clock-face was placed on the tower so that the time could be seen and not simply heard as before with the striking of the bell.

The working mechanism of this clock underwent changes throughout the centuries until when, in 1752, the Revenue Offices of the Republic of Lucca decided to entrust the Genevan Louis Simon with the task of constructing a completely new and more modern mechanism, using a system of dividing the hours on a graduated scale, connected to a wheel which regulates the striking of the hour from one to six on the larger bell, Roman-style, and the striking of the quarters on the two smaller bells.

In 1754, with the collaboration of the Lucchese clocksmith Sigismondo Caturegli, a new clock-face was mounted on the tower on which the 12 Roman numerals were painted and new clockhands with a star-shape at their centre; new also were the bells, which the Lucchese founder Stefano Filippi had had cast at his own expense.

Recently restored by the Municipal Administration, it is the highest tower in the city and offers an entrancing view from its summit which can be reached by climbing up the 207 steps of the perfectly preserved wooden stairs; a panoramic view over the plain of Lucca, while you can also see the working mechanism of the clock which is wound up by hand, one of the most interesting of its kind still in working order in Europe. ... from "Lucca" (Apt Lucca)