---
node: spot_siena_torre_del_mangia
type: spot
slug: torre_del_mangia
destination: dest_siena
title: "Torre del Mangia"
lead: "The tower rises 88 metres from the town hall and was built in the 1340s to exactly the height of the cathedral, so that church and state would stand equal. Its 400 steps end in the best view in Tuscany."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_siena_torre_del_mangia.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IMGP2530W2.jpg"
image_author: "Konstantinos Kousis - https://www.instagram.com/konstantinoskousis/"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

The name comes from its first bell-ringer, Giovanni di Balduccio, nicknamed Mangiaguadagni — the eater of profits — for spending his wages as fast as he earned them; a stone figure of him stands in the courtyard. The white stone crown was added at the top to catch the light against the brick. It was one of the tallest secular towers in Italy when it was finished, and no private tower in Siena was allowed to rise above it.

## Highlights

Numbers on the stair are capped and tickets sell out by mid-morning in summer, so buy first and visit later. The climb is narrow, one-way in places and unsuitable for anyone unsteady. From the top the shell of the Campo reads as a single shape, which it does from nowhere else.