Torre del Mangia - Siena, Italia - Gothic Architecture on Waymarking.com

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"The Torre del Mangia is the most famous symbol of Siena.

It was begun by the brothers Francesco and Muccio di Rinaldo in 1325 and completed around 1348. The tower, 87 meters high, 102 meters if you include the lightning rod. The tower is in red brick until the crown, while the upper part in travertine is the work of the Sienese sculptor Agostino di Giovanni, following the design by Lippo Memmi. In 1666, after several attempts of fusion, a large bell was put in, and the Sienese called it the “Campanone”, also called “Sunto” because it was dedicated to the Madonna dell'Assunta.

The tower is open to the public (entrance from the Cortile del Podestà) and there are more than 400 steps to climb to reach the top, from where you can admire a wonderful view of Siena and the surrounding countryside.

It owes its curious name of Torre del Mangia to the fact that the Municipality entrusted, from 1347 to 1360, the task of beating the hours to someone called Giovanni di Balduccio, nicknamed “Mangiaguadagni” (eat-the-earnings). It was later replaced by an automaton, which, in memory of his first batter, was called Mangia. The remains of this automaton are now kept inside the Cortile del Podestà."

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"The Torre del Mangia is a tower in Siena, in the Tuscany region of Italy. Built in 1338-1348,[1] it is located in the Piazza del Campo, Siena's premier square, adjacent to the Palazzo Pubblico (Town Hall). When built it was one of the tallest secular towers in medieval Italy.[2] At 102 m, it is second tallest after Cremona's Torrazzo (112 m (367 ft)) the Asinelli tower in Bologna at 97 m being third.

The tower was built to be exactly the same height as the Siena Cathedral as a sign that the church and the state had equal amounts of power.

Literally meaning ‘Tower of the Eater’, the name refers to its first bellringer, Giovanni di Balduccio, nicknamed Mangiaguadagni (‘eat-the-profits’, or, ‘profit eater’) for his spendthrift tendency or his idleness or gluttony. "

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This category is focused only to original Gothic architecture, not to pseudo-Gothic, neo-Gothic or Gothic Revival. You can not find this kind of architecture outside of "Old World", moreover this architecture appeared in ca XIIth century (early Gothic) and the last buildings are from cca XVIth (late Gothic) century...