Torre Bissara

Torre Bissara is a tower in Piazza dei Signori, Vicenza, Italy.

The earliest records date back to 1174 when the tower was built at the behest of the family Bissari, next to their palazzo.

Between 1211 and 1229 the municipality of Vicenza bought both the building (with the intention of turning it into the mayor's office) and the tower.

The history of the city is described in its stones: on top there is a headless statue of the goddess Athena from the Roman era; almost at the top there is the marble bas-relief of the Lion of Saint Mark, symbol of the Serenissima; at the base is a triumphal arch with the war memoria.

The interventions addressed two issues: first the subsidence of the foundations (an ever-present problem in Vicenza given the abundance of water in the subsoil), the secondly, the restoration of the external surfaces, ornaments and decorations.