In order to allow the rotation of the main bell, called campanone, of Giotto's bell tower in Florence, the bells of the famous monument in Piazza Duomo will not ring until November 26th. Furthermore, the bell tower is closed to the public on 8, 9, 25 and 26 November.
The main bell, also known as Santa Reparata, was built in 1475 in honor of the saint to whom the ancient Florentine Cathedral was named. It is one of the largest active bells in Italy today, with extraordinary measures: 2 meters in diameter by 2 meters, 210 cm in height, with a thickness of 15 cm for over 5 tons of weight. It was recast in 1705, after cracks had formed.
The maintenance intervention, commissioned and coordinated by the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, will be carried out by Aei di Perego. It will be, explains the Opera, "a complex but almost invisible intervention, because it was carried out inside the belfry, apart from the days of 8, 9, 25 and 26 November when there will be a crane in the area in front of the bell tower and the monument will be closed to the public ". The rotation, by a quarter, was necessary because "the use has thinned the thickness of the bronze in the points where the clapper strikes". "Once the wear of 10% of the thickness has been exceeded, as in this case - explains Claudio Perego, owner of Aei - it is necessary to intervene because there are many probabilities that the bell will break". This will be thelast time that the bell can be rotated, having already been turned on the other sides. Once this side has also thinned, the bell will need to be cast again. It is not known exactly when the big bell was last rotated, "it is assumed that it took place in 1956 -1957, when it was decided to rebuild the old wooden belfry by replacing it with a steel one". In total, Giotto's bell tower has 12 bells of which 5, the oldest, abandoned but still inside the monument, the other 7, including the big bell, of different eras and sizes, functioning: together they make up the so-called Concerto.It is not known exactly when the big bell was last rotated, "it is assumed that it took place in 1956 -1957, when it was decided to rebuild the old wooden belfry by replacing it with a steel one". In total, Giotto's bell tower has 12 bells of which 5, the oldest, abandoned but still inside the monument, the other 7, including the big bell, of different eras and sizes, functioning: together they make up the so-called Concerto.It is not known exactly when the big bell was last rotated, "it is assumed that it took place in 1956 -1957, when it was decided to rebuild the old wooden belfry by replacing it with a steel one". In total, Giotto's bell tower has 12 bells of which 5, the oldest, abandoned but still inside the monument, the other 7, including the big bell, of different eras and sizes, functioning: together they make up the so-called Concerto.functioning: together they constitute the so-called Concerto.functioning: together they constitute the so-called Concerto.
