Florence’s famous skyline has had a small blemish for a few years now: the bell tower at the Church of Santa Croce has been in scaffolding since 2003. And it looks as if it may remain that way for a while to come due to a lack of funding needed to continue restoration works.
The alarm was raised by the superintendents of Florence’s architectural and landscape heritage, who claim that regardless of repeated requests for funding in order to finish the restoration project, the ministry has denied further support.
The 80-metre high campanile has been secured with scaffolding, but with very limited data on the actual state of the tower, as well as the effects of past restoration work that may not have been suitable for the structure, fears are that irreparable damage could occur if work is not soon resumed.
The Church of Santa Croce is now looking for possible alternative funding sources.
