Veronese bell ringing is a style of ringing church bells that developed around Verona, Italy, from the eighteenth century. The bells are manually rung full circle (mouth uppermost to mouth uppermost), being held up by a rope and wheel until a note is required.
History
Early history
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. In the 16th century the number of bells in some towers increased. The first rings of five or six bells were in four churches: San Zeno, Santa Maria in Organo, Santa Maria della Scala and Santa Anastasia. All four were monasteries where the monks rang the bells themselves. 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. Reinassence style belltowers are San Nazaro and Santa Maria in Organo. During the 17th century the Da Levo family and their students (one of whom was Pesenti) were casting diatonically tuned bells. Common arrangements were the major chord (doh-me-soh-doh', for example C E G C'), the Gloria (doh-ray-fah, for example C D F) or the subdominant (doh-far-doh', for example C F C'). Significant churches equipped installations were Madonna di Campagna, San Bernardino, San Nicolò all'Arena and the cathedral. 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. In 1653 Pesenti cast the 6,000 kilograms (13,000 lb) (116-0-8) civic bell of Bergamo, which is still in use today. Pupils of Pesenti were De Rossi, Poni, Larducci and Micheletti (dead 1804). In the mid-18th century another three interesting rings were installed. One was made by Crespi foundry for the Monastery of San Fermo, another by Antonio Larducci for Santa Lucia which was the last one made in the French-Veronese Renaissance style. In 1776 Professor Giuseppe Ruffini cast a ring for San Giorgio in Braida. Crespi and Ruffini introduced the "Manieristica" shape to Verona. This new shape had originated in the 16th century in the Alps and it became the basis for shapes still used today. The San Giorgio in Braida bells are notable works of art both for decoration and musical precision.
Development of Veronese style ringing
In San Giorgio in Braida the new bells were hung in such a way that the new style of ringing could develop. The bells are hung for full circle ringing where each bell is swung from balanced mouth uppermost through 360 degrees to again balanced mouth uppermost. This method of ringing permits a precise control of the time that the bell sounds and hence allows music. It is not clear whether hanging the bells in this way was independently developed at San Giorgio or whether the method was imported from England where bells are also hung for full circle ringing. 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. They developed the art of ringing concerti. 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 ringers were paid for their efforts with food given to them at the start of autumn (fall): "polenta, salame e vino rosso" (polenta, salami and red wine). 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. They eventually used to sell the food, receiving an amount of about current 130 euro per year. At around the same time the bells of Santa Maria in Organo were modified, probably to allow them to play concerti. 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.
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