L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano HERITAGE HISTORY IDENTITY TRADITIONS A t noon, a cannon be- low the Garibaldi Monument on the Janiculum fires a shot across the Tiber. The echo booms two miles away in Piazza Navona and startles the lunch crowd at Tre Scalini. As an old man drops a tuna and tomato tramezzino and turns off his hearing aid, Rome responds with a salvo of church bells. This daily ritual once synchro- nized the city's clocks. Now it de- poses time and enthrones chaos. A thousand jangling notes collide in the centro storico, stopping traffic and stunning pedestrians. Gradually, the din subsides, and residents recognize individual chimes. From Rome's tallest belfry, the bells of Santa Maria Maggiore call the tardy home. C# and D, they scold, F# and G. The mangled car- illon of San Giovanni in Later- ano debates a tedious point in canon law, droning D#, B, D#, B ad infinitum. The most distinct clang, however, is a majestic but slightly muffled E natural from the Campanone, the Great Bell of St. Peter's. Hanging in the basilica's west- ern clock tower, the Campanone rings only on special occasions. During the liturgical year, it heralds Christmas, Easter, and the Feast of Peter and Paul. It tolls sadly to pro- claim the death of one pope, peals jubilantly to announce the election of another. It warned Pius IX to flee revolution and saluted Bene- dict XVI as he helicoptered from the Vatican to Castel Gandolfo after his surprise resignation. Once the ninth largest bell in the world, the Campanone weighs nine tons. Its massive exterior, however, is girdled with cherubs and apostles, embroidered with crests and keys, and crowned with putti and dolphins. If the rococo scrollwork strikes a false note, it is because its designer was better suited to craft a silver tureen than to cast a bronze bell. Luigi Valadier, Rome's most fashionable goldsmith in the late 18th century, created exquisite tableware, furniture, and altar pieces for noble and ecclesiastical patrons. Everyone visited his workshop on Via del Babuino, in- cluding Pius VI, who knighted Valadier in 1779. Nevertheless, the city was surprised when the Pope asked him to forge a new cam- panone for the Vatican. The previous campanone had ruptured in February 1780, after only 33 years of service. It not only needed to be replaced but also moved, with St. Peter's other bells, from the left-hand corner of the basilica's façade. A makeshift after the demolition of Bernini's twin campaniles in 1646, this location smothered sound. Work began in June 1785, but Valadier was soon daunted. Al- though he understood the basics of casting a bell, the acoustics al- luded him. A bell's tone depends on many factors, including its di- mension, the quality of the bronze, and the finishing work. The Cav- aliere, whispered rivals, who re- sented his commission, lacked the knowledge and experience. His flawed design would ruin the note. The bell, they gloated, was doomed to crack, along with its maker. On September 1, 1785, Luigi Valadier walked from his work- shop to the city's docks and flung himself into the Tiber. Boat work- ers tried to save him, but he had drowned before they fished him out. His suicide scandalized Rome and should have barred him from Christian burial, but the Pope in- tervened and gave Valadier a splendid funeral. He was buried in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, near the Pantheon. His son, Giuseppe Valadier, finished the work ten months later. He built a wooden scaffold with wheels on which the bell was transported from the foundry in Via del Babuino to the Vatican. As it travelled across the city, the bell rang loudly and attracted cheering crowds. At the Holy Door of Saint Peter's, in the presence of assembled nobility, Pius VI blessed the mighty Campanone. History, however, rarely ends on a note of triumph. The Great Bell was hung in the small cupola above the Gre- gorian Chapel. When it was rung for the first time, it caused a tremendous cacophony inside the basilica. One cardinal went deaf, but the sound failed to carry even to the neighboring Borgo district. This fiasco perturbed the Curia. At a discordant meeting of the Pon- tifical Commission for the Cul- tural Heritage of the Church, it was decided—"with enough stram- botti to make the dogs howl," ac- cording to Francesco Milizia, the King of Naples' Superintendent of the Farnese Buildings in the Papal See—to return the bell to its origi- nal location. After architects confirmed that the increased weight and motion would not endanger the façade, the Campanone was reinstalled in or- der to be sounded (as Pius ordered) "alla distesa." Even on the most joyous occasion, however, it tolls a muted requiem for Luigi Val- adier. Pasquino's secretary is Anthony Di Renzo, professor of writing at Ithaca College. You may reach him at direnzo@ithaca.edu. The great bell of Saint Peter's, known by Italians as the "campanone." A view of Via del Babuino, in Rome © Anton Aleksenko | Dreamstime.com ANTHONY DI RENZO Il Campanone Pasquino asks for whom the bell tolls

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