Torre del Mangia

The tower was built to be exactly the same height as Siena Cathedral as a sign that the church and the state had equal power.[nb 1]

The name refers to its first bellringer, Giovanni di Balduccio, nicknamed Mangiaguadagni (‘Profit eater’) either for his spendthrift tendency,[3] idleness[4] or gluttony.[5]

^ Smith, Timothy B.; Steinhoff, Judith Belle (2012). Art as Politics in Late Medieval and Renaissance Siena. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-4094-0066-0. ...to compensate for the possible perception of inequality between civic and ecclesiastical authorities, the torre del Mangia (the tower of the city hall) was designed to be uniquely tall among Italian town halls and to reach to the same absolute height as the bell tower of the Cathedral, which sat on the highest hill in Siena. ^ Google Earth's elevation data ^ Birnbaum, Stephen (1989). Birnbaum's Italy. Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 6358. ISBN 978-0-395-51151-0. ...a one-time bell ringer, Giovanni di Duccio, who was evidently a man of prodigal habits and better known to the Sienese as Mangiaguadagni. ^ Stratton, Adele (2010). DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Italy. Dorling Kindersley. p. 340. ISBN 978-0-7566-7275-1. ^ Harvard Student's Let's Go, Inc. (1999). Let's Go: the Budget Guide to Italy. St. Martin's Press. p. 288. ISBN 9780312194888.

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