Campanile di San Marco

A topographical cabinet card showing a view of St Mark's Campanile (Italian: Campanile di San Marco) in the Piazza San Marco in Venice. The colossal bell tower stands alone on a corner of St Mark's Square, almost opposite the Basilca's main facade.

The campanile reached its present form in 1514. After it collapsed in 1904, it was rebuilt in 1912.

Photographed by Carlo Ponti of Venice.

Ponti studied photography in Paris in the 1840s. In 1852, he obtained a license to produce and sell photographs in Venice. He ran the first of the big photographic businesses in the city, producing albums with architectural views of great artistic sensitivity. He was also the inventor of camera lenses suitable for panoramic photography.