L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano MARIELLA RADAELLI C an you imagine try- ing to catch an air- plane or a train with- out knowing the time? Our life is unimaginable with- out timekeeping. Animals don't need such awareness, but we do. The clock makes infinity real to us. It's like living in a valley of timekeeping. But in Friuli "La Valle del Tempo" really exists. Formally called the Pesarina Valley, it is a happy valley in the Carnia region and Udine province. It offers wonderful views of the Friulian Dolomites, with lots of monu- mental clocks displayed through- out the hamlet of Pesariis, a sort of Alice in Wonderland village. In the municipality of Prato Car- nico, tiny Pesariis is one of the world's clockmaking capitals. Here, building walls and tower clocks became an art form in the 17th century. Locals learned the craft in the Black Forest during their seasonal migration to Ger- many as cramars, itinerant traders who sold goods such as spices, fabrics and handicrafts. The Pesarino was a pendulum wall clock typical of Pesariis. It was made from iron in the mechanical part and the external case, moved by small ovoid stone weights tied to hemp ropes with a short pendulum swinging in front of the dial.  "But the local econo- my is still based on the clockmak- ing," notes Federica D'Orazio, visitor services officer and coor- dinator at the Museo del- l'Orologeria Pesarina, an enchant- ing museum dedicated solely to horology. An important international manufacturer of timekeeping products has roots dating back to the 1700s in Pesariis. For cen- turies, Solari produced clocks for bell towers. In the mid-1930s their Pesariis factory began pro- duction of electrical timepieces used as time recorders and dot- writing clocks used to report the movements of trains at railway stations. Remigio and Fermo Solari were two extraordinary brothers who broke from the orig- inal family business to establish their own innovative business. Remigio was a very creative self- taught engineer who combined his passion for mechanics with a transformative imagination and a total dedication to his work. He was an innovator. Fermo was entrepreneur material instead. During WWII, Remigio began to devote himself to the design of an innovative punch-card time recorder for workers. The proto- type was showcased at Milan Fair in 1947 and went into production right away in a modern, new fac- tory in Udine: the Fabbrica Orologeria Industriale - Remigio Solari & Co. Much of the impetus for Remigio's designs came dur- ing WWII from his home in Pesariis. Remigio then invented the iconic split-flap display we are all familiar with. In the '60s it became an industry standard in rail and air terminals worldwide. I can still hear the 'fwip-fwip-fwip' sound of the flap boards changing at airports or train stations. We all stood underneath the big Solari boards, waiting as real-time departure and arrival times dis- played. For prolonged periods, Victor Navorski/Tom Hanks stood underneath Solari boards as he was stuck in JFK International Airport in Steven Spielberg's movie The Terminal. Solari entered the US market in 1950. "We were one of the very few Italian companies that at the time managed to patent some- thing in the US," says Katia Bre- deon, marketing manager at Solari di Udine S.p.A. Their role in the mobility sector is still rele- vant. "We are the prime supplier of passenger information displays here in the New York market – which is probably the largest in the world when you combine all the rail systems," says Joseph De Carlo, an Italian-American who is general manager at SolariCorp, a wholly owned subsidiary of Solari di Udine S.p.A. based in New York. Solari boards have become a piece of pop culture tech, but Solari board era is not over. "There has been a great resur- gence in this older technology that we are seeing – new Star- bucks Roasteries in Milan, New York, Shanghai, Seattle and Tokyo are using the boards to dis- play "What's Brewing," notes De Carlo. "The boards have moved away from traditional use, to more of a retro look and a real attraction in new venues. Our cus- tomers see that they are attention getters and a real conversation piece in their new role," De Carlo says. "We have also provided flap displays at the MOMA here in NYC, the WWII Museum in New Orleans, the Harry Potter Exhibit at Universal Studios and at the San Francisco Historic Ferry Ter- minal. We are also supplying dig- ital technology to our major cus- tomer MTA NY that are used by billions of passengers (annually) who see our displays daily. So we are extremely competitive in the digital market when it comes to providing information in the latest digital formats." Between 1880 and WWI sev- eral inhabitants of Pesariis migrated to Detroit and Pitts- burgh. An unorthodox building for Pesariis, not the typical wood- en and stone house, illustrates the story of Giobatta who returned home before WWI. "In memory of his experience as a migrant in the US, he built a modular home inspired by American architec- ture. He had the image of Christo- pher Columbus painted on the façade," says D'Orazio. In the valley of time, people always work with delicacy and ticktock precision. "But a greet- ing never fails as we cross each other on the street," says D'O- razio. In the valley of time, forces permit industrious angels. Pesariis: the valley of time, and timeless designs The Orologio a Palette Gigante in the village of Pesariis ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES

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