Veronese bellringing art

Veronese bellringing art is a style of ringing church bells that developed around Verona, Italy from the eighteenth century. The bells are rung full circle (mouth uppermost to mouth uppermost), being held up by a rope and wheel until a note is required.

In The History of Verona Ludovico Moscardo records that on the 21 November 622 the bell towers of the city rang to announce the death of Bishop Mauro. It is not known how many towers and bells, but clearly by that date Verona had a tradition of ringing. In the following century the bell "the storm" ("dei temporali") was cast. It is of octagonal shape and thought to be one of the oldest such castings in Europe. It is now preserved in the San Zeno Museum in Verona.

The earliest technical information on the casting of Veronese bells is by the master Gislimerio in 1149. He described the casting of the bells for San Zeno Maggiore. Gislimerio was the first of fifty bell founders which worked in Verona over the centuries. Initially the shape of the bells were empirical, however from around 1200 studies were done to determine the best shape. The results were then shared across the continent. Other castings were made in 1065 for San Fermo, 1081 for San Massimo and 1172 for San Salvar.

Up until the 14th century the best bell founders were from Venice, due to its more advanced industry, but there were skilled veronese founders too. Master Jacopo considered by some to be one of the best of the time. In 1370 he cast the bell for the Gardello tower. It is 130 centimetres (51 in) wide and it weighs about 18 quintals or 1,800 kilograms (4,000 lb) (35-2-24) The tower is a clock tower unattached to a church. The 1370 clock was one of the first striking clocks in the world. The bell is now in the Castelvecchio Museum.

In the 15th century when Verona was given to Venice there were few native Veronese foundry workers and therefore itinerant workmen worked for the Veronese masters. Bells for San Zeno were made by German workmen and that for the castle of Malcesine by Spaniards. A Frenchman, Mr. Michel, started a company in Verona that continued until the 19th century. He studied the sound of the bells, designing a shape which created a pleasant and tuneful sound. His successors, such as Checcherle and Bonaventurini, continued the development and started to apply decorations making the bells into works of art. Particularly skilled founder was Gasparino which made in 1444 one bell for Santa Maria della Scala, still rung actually. In this century, wonderful belltowers were built up such as Santa Anastasia.

...
Wikipedia