In 1499, the Venetian Government wanted to ensure the clock could be consistently maintained. To do so, they made the decision to have a custodian, or a "temperatore," and his family live in the Clock Tower. The custodian was paid to keep the clock functioning properly. Custodians and their families lived in the Clock Tower until 1998. The last Clock custodian was Alberto Peratoner. The custodian and his family lived behind the clock's face; windows can be seen in the four corners of the clock's face as Dr. Felluga mentioned in class. Image By Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK (Clock Tower St Mark's Square 4  Uploaded by tm) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons