L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano W e bet you d i d n ' t k n o w that there is such a thing as a clock that goes backward in Florence, did you? Well, we admit it took us by surprise, too. If you want to see it, you just need to visit the town's duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore - yes, the same one with Giot- t o ' s b e l l t o w e r a n d Brunelleschi's dome. Inside, surrounded by col- o r f u l m a r b l e s a n d t h e grandiose beauty of its sim- p l e , y e t m a j e s t i c g o t h i c vaults, you'll find a curious clock, created and painted by famous Italian Renaissance p a i n t e r P a o l o U c c e l l o . Born Paolo di Dono in 1397, Vasari - who wrote a series of "Lives" of artists - tells us that the nickname "uccello" comes from his passion for painting animals, birds in p a r t i c u l a r ( t h a t ' s w h a t "uccello" means in Italian). U c c e l l o d e v e l o p e d h i s artistic skills the way it used to be done back then, in an a r t i s t ' s w o r k s h o p : i n h i s case, it was Lorenzo Ghib- e r t i 's. Uccello wasn't the only one learning from Ghib- erti: in those years, one of h i s " c l a s s m a t e s " w a s D o n a t e l l o , o n e o f o u r Renaissance's most appreci- ated artists. Uccello travels through Italy and Europe, where he g e t s i n t o u c h w i t h g o t h i c architecture and art, but the biggest artistic revolution, he witnesses it in his own Flo- rence, where in the years of his return - we are the early 1430s - pictorial perspec- tive was being developed. P a o l o U c c e l l o w a s t o b e known for his impressive skills in the use of the tech- nique. This is all good, I hear you say, but how does it have to do with a clock that runs backward? Well, Paolo Uccello paint- ed a special clock in Santa M a r i a d e l F i o r e , k n o w n either as orologio della controfacciata (because it is on the wall opposite the façade), or simply orologio d i S a n t a M a r i a d e l Fiore. Its dial marks twen- t y - f o u r h o u r s i n R o m a n numbers in ascending order but they are written counter- clockwise. And there is more b e c a u s e t h e h a n d s o f t h e clock move counter-clock- wise, too. Quirky? Certainly, espe- cially to modern eyes, but not as strange as one may expect, because there is a very rational explanation for it all. Basically, the clock was painted following the way the sun moves on another p o p u l a r t o o l t o m a r k t h e time in those years, a sun- d i a l , a n d t h e 2 4 t h h o u r doesn't mark midnight, but rather sunset. The habit of marking when the sun goes down as "the end of day" w a s c o m m o n l y k n o w n a s Hora Italica. And, when you think of it, it makes per- fect sense, because sunset was when the city gates were locked for the night and peo- ple had to come back home from working in the fields around town. As fun as it may look, using the Hora I t a l i c a a l s o m e a n t t h a t clocks had to be regulated t h r o u g h o u t t h e y e a r , t o ensure they always marked the exact time when the sun would set. With this first interesting mystery debunked, we can now move to the second one (yes, there is a second one!), which is even more closely r e l a t e d t o t h e a r t i s t t h a t painted the clock, our Paolo Uccello. At the four corners of the clock's frame, you'll f i n d f o u r b e a u t i f u l l y painted heads represent- ing …That's the mystery: we don't know. Art historians say they are likely to be the F o u r E v a n g e l i s t s , b u t , strangely, Uccello didn't rep- r e s e n t t h e m i n t h e u s u a l way, that is, with their four customary symbols: the lion for Mark, the ox for Luke, the angel for Matthew and the eagle for John. Besides being a curiosity, t h e c l o c k i s a l s o a r a r i t y , because it is one of the very few clocks still existing that marks the old Hora Italica. B y t h e w a y , y o u m a y b e pleased to know it still works perfectly well, despite its 590 years of age, also thanks to the accurate restoration of its mechanisms carried out in the early 2010s by the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, Officina Panerai, his- torical Florentine watch - makers (who sponsored the operation) and professors Andrea Palmieri and Ugo Pancani, of the Centro Studi per il Restauro degli Orologi I S I S L e o n a r d o d a V i n c i , who worked directly on the artifact. C o m p a g n i a ( c o m - p a h - ñ e e - ah) is a beautiful word, with a very i n t e r e s t i n g etymology. It comes from the Latin cum panis (with bread), which can be extended in meaning to "sharing the same bread." Because this is exactly what people do when they are in compagnia, they share time, fun and, sometimes, even sorrows with others. Indeed, compagnia is the Italian for "company" and it is used very much in the same way: for instance, essere in c o m p a g n i a d i q u a l c u n o means "to be in someone's company," while Sono da solo o g g i , v i e n i a f a r m i c o m p a g n i a ? m e a n s " I ' m alone today. Fancy coming to keep me company?" Certainly, this meaning of compagnia, which implies t h e i d e a o f s h a r i n g t i m e , feelings and emotions with the people you love, is the nicest, but there are others, t o o , w h i c h a r e j u s t a s c o m m o n i n I t a l i a n . F o r instance, compagnia can also be a synonym for "business" or "enterprise," just like in English, so don't be surprised if you hear an Italian friend s a y L a v o r o p e r u n a compagnia americana ("I w o r k f o r a n A m e r i c a n company"). B e c a u s e w h e n t u s e i i n c o m p a g n i a ( " y o u ' r e i n someone's company"), you are not alone, the word is also used to indicate a group of p e o p l e w h o u s u a l l y d o s o m e t h i n g t o g e t h e r : f o r instance, we use compagnia teatrale for a theater troupe, but we also say Quando ero r a g a z z o g i r a v o n e l l a compagnia di tuo fratello ("When I was a teen, I used to go out with your brother's group of friends") or Una volta mi piaceva girare in c o m p a g n i a o r a s o n o p i ù solitario ("I used to love going out in group, now I am more of a loner"). So, compagnia is always a good word, one that implies being with others and not feeling alone…Hopefully, even when we talk about the place we work at! Sono stato assunto da una compagnia francese I g o t h i r e d b y a F r e n c h company M i p i a c e s t a r e i n compagnia, mi mette di buon umore I like being with others, it puts me in a good mood S i è u n i t o a d u n a compagnia teatrale di Milano dopo l'università After university, he joined a theater group in Milan LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Word of the day: compagnia - when it's good, it's better than medicine! Italian curiosities: Florence's backward clock Paolo Uccello's clock. Numbers on the clock are written anti-clockwise and its hands move in the same direction (Photo: David Pillow/Dreamstime) © Antoniodiaz | Dreamstime.com

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