At the peak of its economic power and political stability, towards the end of the 13th century, the Comune of Orvieto decided to move its civic buildings to the restored Palazzo Comunale, and to build both the Palazzo del Popolo and the Duomo.

The city’s new layout came into being through the restoration of existing buildings, with at its centre the Palazzo dei Sette and the tower known as Torre del Papa, 47 metres high and almost perfectly aligned with the four points of the compass.

The sheer height of this tower in fact gave commanding views over the entire lands administered by the city of Orvieto, which extended westwards as far as the sea, eastwards to the Apennines and northwards to Mounts Cetona and Amiata.

In the 16th century the Torre was renamed "del Moro", almost certainly after Raffaele di Sante, known as “il Moro”, who gave his name to Palazzo Gualtiero beneath and to the entire quarter.

In 1865 a water tank, part of the city’s new aqueduct, was placed 18 metres up the tower. After the restoration works carried out on the tower in 1866 the mechanical clock and the two city bells were positioned.

The smaller of the two bells came from Torre di Sant'Andrea and the larger one from Palazzo del Popolo, where it had hung since 1313. Poncello Orsini, Capitano del Popolo at the time of its welding, had given orders that the bell should display in relief all the city’s 25 crafts and the seal of the city of Orvieto.


INFORMATION
Torre del Moro
Corso Cavour, 87 - 05018 ORVIETO
tel. 0763/344567


OPENING HOURS

MARCH /APRIL- SEPTEMBER/ OCTOBER
10am – 7pm

MAY / AUGUST
10am – 8pm

NOVEMBER / FEBRUARY
10:30am – 1pm ----- 2:30 – 5pm


TICKETS

Full € 2.60
Reductions € 1.85 (groups, children)