campanile

IPA/ˌkæmpəˈniːli/
IPA/ˌkæmpəˈniːli/

campanile — noun

  • campanilesingular
  • campanilesplural

1. a tall, narrow building designed to hold bells, often standing separate from the

1.nounC1
Definition

a tall, narrow building designed to hold bells, often standing separate from the church or other large building it belongs to

Example

The campanile in the town square rang twelve times to mark midday.

collocation: campanile + rang / ring

Restoration work on the 14th-century campanile took nearly three years to complete.

adjective modifier: 14th-century campanile

Common collocations
  • ancient campanile
  • freestanding campanile
  • medieval campanile
  • stone campanile
  • campanile rises
  • campanile stands
Synonyms
  • bell tower

    the everyday term for any tower with bells; campanile specifically suggests a slender, often freestanding tower, especially in Italian architecture

  • belfry

    strictly refers to the room or chamber within a tower where bells hang, not the whole structure

Grammar Patterns

a/the campanile

the campanile of [building]

Usage Note

Frequently used with a definite article when referring to a specific tower. Common in descriptions of Italian architecture, where many campaniles were built between the 11th and 14th centuries.

Common Mistakes

The campanile contains the church's main altar.
The campanile contains the church's bells.
A campanile is a bell tower, not the main church building itself.
We visited a beautiful old campanille in Florence.
We visited a beautiful old campanile in Florence.
The word is spelled campanile, not campanille (with double l).

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Campanile, bell tower, belfry, and steeple all involve towers and bells, but they are not interchangeable. Bell tower is the most general term — any tower that contains bells. Belfry technically names the bell chamber within a tower, though it is often used loosely to mean the whole tower. Steeple refers to a tall spire on top of a church roof, which may or may not hold bells. Campanile is the most specific: it describes a slender, often freestanding tower, strongly associated with Italian architecture. For example, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is a campanile, not a steeple. If you say 'the bells are in the belfry,' you are talking about the room inside; if you say 'the campanile is 50 metres tall,' you mean the whole tower structure.

bell tower ↗belfry ↗steeple ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinItalianEnglish

Borrowed directly from Italian 'campanile', which comes from 'campana' meaning 'bell'. The Italian word traces further back to Latin 'campana' — a bell, named after the region of Campania in southern Italy, where bronze for bell-making was plentiful. The word entered English in the 1600s, used mainly in descriptions of Italian architecture before spreading as a general architectural term.

First known use

1605

1605, in the meaning defined above