Veronese bell ringing

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.

His successors, such as Checcherle and Bonaventurini, continued the development and started to apply decorations making the bells into works of art.

In 1557 the Bonaventurini foundry cast the 4,215 kilograms (9,292 lb) (82-3-24) "Rengo" civic bell which is still in good condition today.

At the latter the bell ringers were lay musicians living in the city western suburbs who were paid with a reduction in the rent of arable land.

The first evidence of wheels and counterbalances dates from this period; from which it is supposed that the bells were starting to be rung in sequence, rather than swung randomly.

The Da Levo family specialised in making small and medium size fully decorated bells.

Local farmers who attended church services and had an aptitude for music were chosen to ring and look after maintenance of the bells of San Giorgio.

The new style of music was not appreciated by Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, but was loved by Pope Pius VI who listened to it in February 1782.

The ringing was quite onerous, on holy days they had to get up very early for the Ave Maria, then play again for the principal mass, the afternoon and evening service and finally at night for the vespers.

Many of the churches of Verona started to follow this example and the original ringers of San Giorgio in Braida were sent to organize the bands and train the new players.

Next Chievo (1808) and then later the cathedral, Santi Apostoli, Santo Stefano, San Salvatore Corte Regia and Santa Anastasia.

The ringers at Santa Anastasia were a group who worked on the floating mills on the river Adige, behind the apse of the basilica.

This tradition came from the masters like Vincenzi and Gardoni, some of whom decided to change technique by starting to ring the bells with their new method.

An example is Giacomo Milossi (a student of Gardoni) whose skill was praised in a sonnet commemorating the bells of Santa Anastasia.

Writing in his memoirs he describes the precise methods of playing a concert in rounds with the sacred bronze bell.

With the reconstruction of the biggest bell of S. Trinità, some young people from the area created a group of concert players which was then absorbed by San Giorgio, at the time directed by the Peroni brothers and Giacomo Tomasini.

In the church of Santa Maria della Scala a new group was started directed at first by Pietro Sancassani (1881–1972) and then by future maestros Alberti, Oliboni and Signorato.

This event was organized in a way so that all the teams of the city and also from the suburbs like Chievo and Santa Lucia, had to adhere to the oldest and most prestigious: San Giorgio in Braida.

The rivalry was all the more intense because in each team there were the most important men, directors, composers, players, maintenance workers, and experts in bells.

The arguments changed by the day: an unsuccessful competition, disagreement about the management of the money, a proposal made to the other team, a social office not renewed.

From this society, managed by Accordini and Biondani, other groups were created: the Santo Stefano, the Santa Maria in Organo (called the "Rebel") and the team of Sabaini-S.Eufemia which stopped spontaneously.

Since the fifties, modernity has taken control of Verona lifestyle and the society started to lose interest in church and in bellringing art.

In 1983, the creation of a regional bell ringing association managed to gradually turn around the decline, but not in the city of Verona itself, where the downwards trend continued for another twenty years.

The ringers of the city and the suburbs wanted to unite to create a single group (which was the project of M° Sancassani ninety years before), who apart from ringing decided to look together for new members and for a major publicization of the art.

A lot of energy was invested in historical, technical, scientific research and the restoring of disused bell towers.

It was like the old time: churches were inspired to install other bells, because of this the smallest Veronese ring was created in San Carlo.

The rope is steel which removes the problem of stretch when the bells are rung from ground floor ringing chambers.

Being less flexible than natural fibres the steel rope is attached to the wheel with a toggle mechanism rather than being led through a garter hole.