Torre dell'Orologio, Medieval clock tower in Bologna, Italy

Torre dell'Orologio, also called Torre Accursi, is a clock tower at the corner of Via IV Novembre and Piazza Maggiore, the original core of Palazzo d'Accursio. Its rectangular section rises 36.20 metres, topped by a 10-metre octagonal lantern with a copper dome. It houses a clock 6.40 metres in diameter, among the largest in Italy.

Accursio, a jurist, built the tower around 1250 as part of his house; in 1287 his sons sold it to Bologna, which kept the tower when building the Palazzo della Biada. In 1444 the Consiglio degli Anziani ordered a clock, so the tower was raised about 10 m and the clock installed in 1451. Fires lit in 1492 for Alexander VI's election damaged the top, rebuilt by Giovanni da Brensa in 1493.

Wooden automata, unnamed in the sources, were placed on the tower soon after the 1451 clock: each hour they came out of a small door, filed past an image of the Madonna and Child and re-entered through another door. The bell, cast in 1493 by the Provençal founder Michel Garel, is fixed and struck by an external hammer linked to the clock mechanism, sounding the exact hour and repeating the stroke a minute later; the night hours are silenced for residents' rest.

The tower is accessible through guided tours that allow visitors to see the interior and observe the mechanical systems up close. It helps to plan ahead since tour availability varies with seasons and daily schedules.

The clock has a diameter of 6.40 m, one of the largest in Italy. Its fixed bell is struck by an external hammer linked to the mechanism, sounding the exact hour and repeating the stroke a minute later; the night-time chimes are now silenced to respect residents' rest.