Guaita Tower takes its name from the local word for “guard”. Some kind of guard tower has stood here since the 1000s. It is the oldest and largest of San Marino’s three towers, and it sits directly on the rock, with no foundations.

The tower you see today was rebuilt in the 1400s, and its jobs changed along the way. A bell once called citizens to defend the city. Inner rooms became a prison for short sentences, still in use in the 1970s. The tower is on San Marino’s coat of arms.

VoiceMap’s tours explain how the fortress worked, from the bell that rallied the city to the cells inside. Some also point out the lizard, a stonemason’s mark, within the tower.