In Mondovì Piazza, at the end of the climb that flanks the Duomo and the Palazzo del Vescovado, we reach the highest point of “Mount Regale” where we find one of the most famous places in the city: the Giardini del Belvedere with the Parco del Tempo. This pleasant, natural location affords a vast panorama sweeping 360 degrees, from the plains to the highest alpine peaks, up to the soft hills of the Langhe. Legend has it that when Napoleon Bonaparte saw this view, he defined Mondovì as “the most beautiful town in the world”.

The theme park illustrates ancient systems for measuring time and, in particular, an anallematic sundial, a local, horizontal real-time clock combined with an equatorial sundial and a clock used by the Italic and Babylonian people to tell the time.

At the centre of the park stands the symbol of the city, the Torre civica del Belvedere, or Torre dei Bressani, named after the family that made it the symbol of its prestige. Built in the 14th century and crowned by characteristic "merlons", it was originally used as the bell tower of the adjacent Chiesa di Sant'Andrea, which was later demolished. Towering 30 metres high, it affords an even more breathtaking view, overlooking the red roofs of the town’s houses. This place was used by the scientist Giovanni Battista Beccaria as a trigonometric point for the determination of the Piedmontese meridian arc, in 1762.

At the top of the tower we find the bells and the characteristic single hand clocks, visible from afar. An installation by Liliana Moro, a well-known contemporary artist accompanies those going up. It is entitled “What do I listen to when I listen to the passage of time?”, a piece of sound art conceived specifically for the tower, marking the steps that lead up to the top.