A bell tower (also belfry) is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. Modern bell towers often contain carillons.
The term Campanile (Italian pronunciation: [kampaˈniːle], English: /ˌkæmpəˈniːliː/) is synonymous with 'bell tower'; in American English it tends to be used to refer to free standing bell towers; the term is Italian, deriving from the word 'campana' meaning bell.
When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in continental Europe, it is often named "belfry". Elsewhere, the term "belfry" refers strictly to the part of the tower which contains the bells. Thus some bell towers have no belfry.
Old bell towers may be kept for their historic or iconic value, though in countries with a strong campanological tradition they often continue to serve their original purposes as well.
Bell towers are common in China and countries of the related cultures, where they may appear both as part of a temple complex and as an independent civic building. The tallest free-standing bell tower in the world is the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, located at the University of Birmingham, UK; it is approximately 110m tall.
