Public tower
This isolated stone construction overlooking the central square and surmounted by round arches, was used to mark the time in the Middle Ages through the manual operation of the bell as well as for other types of signals; it would mark the beginning and end of the day and separate daily from night activities; it would bring all activities to a halt on Saturdays after the vesper bell of Santa Maria del Fonte had been rung; it would convene all inhabitants of Arenghe with a specific sound that could be heard all over the area the night before; it would signal emergencies and other situations (still around the mid-1800’s it could be seen erected in harmony with its double of the St. Sebastian’s Church). Its function as a clock was perfected in the late Middle Ages, thanks to the Gricci, the most creative family in the area, who, presumably in 1516, started their business as tower clocks manufacturers under the guidance of Martin (born in 1470); one of his nephews, Titian, son of Giovanni, born in 1545 – whose portrait can now be seen in the Town Hall - would elevate this art to the highest level later on, sought after by the whole central Italy as well as Fossato for his services. Here, working with his son, he built a tower clock that worked until the 1970’s, when it was replaced; nonetheless, its electric mechanism was preserved as an historic time piece; on one of the iron bands around the clock the wording “"Titanus Griccius Fossatensis faciebat et Claudius filius eius perfecit nel anno 1963" is still visible, meaning that Titian Gricci built this clock in the second half of the sixteenth century (anyway before 1603), while it was perfected by his son in 1603.