BELLS / CAMPANE

According to some traditions, bells communicate with the Eternal, lifting high the voice of man. According to others, a bell is “the voice of God.” At any rate, in all cultures this tool is the privileged means of communication between man and the divine. Bells also have the more earthly task of communicating important events to the entire community. In times when mass communication and newspapers did not yet exist, bells performed the role of communicator: using a language of musical codes, often specific to each community, to announce births (the newborn's sex included) and deaths, marriages, catastrophic weather, wars and even the arrival of an important person in the town. Bells also served as actual communication posts between nearby communities, passing the most important news from one to the other. (http://www.aeiperego.com/Home1cab.html)

THE BELL OF PEACE / LA CAMPANA DELLA PACE - Rovereto, Italia

The Peace Bell of Rovereto was conceived by don Antonio Rossaro, priest of Rovereto, as a homage to Italian soldiers killed during different wars. It is a token and an invitation to peace. On 30 October 1924 it was cast using the bronze from the guns of the 19 nations that took part in World War I. On 24 May 1925, it was baptised "Maria Dolens" (the grieving Virgin Mary). Since the sound proved unsatisfactory, the bell was recast in Verona on the 13th of June 1939 and returned to Rovereto on the 26th of May 1940, resuming its noble mission of peace and universal brotherhood. On the 31st of August 1960 due to a deep and irreparable crack the bell stopped ringing and on the 1st of October 1964, thanks to the generous assistance of the Lions Club of Italy, it was recast at the Capanni Foundery at Castelnovo ne’ Monti (Reggio Emilia). It was blessed in St. Peter’s Square by His Holiness Pope Paul VI on the 31st of October 1965 and on the 4th of November the bell returned in triumph to Rovereto and was placed on Miravalle Hill. Engraved on the body of the bell are the autographed comments of the Supreme Pontiff Pius XII: “With peace nothing is lost. Everything is to be lost through war”. John XXIII: “In pace hominum ordinata concordia et tranquilla libertas”. Popes Pius XI and Pius XII have conceded a special indulgence to anyone who, in front of the monumental bell, recites a prayer for the repose of the Dead.

It is the biggest bell in the world that rings full peal. It weighs 22.5 tons, it has a diameter of 3.21m and is 3.36m high. The clapper weighs 6 quintals and the block 103. Every evening, around sunset, its sound reminds listeners of the soldiers killed in the wars, invites to recall the sufferings that are caused by conflicts and fosters hope in a future made of peace.

The bell rings every evening, tolling a hundred times in remembrance of the Fallen of all wars and of all the nations of the world. Rovereto’s Bell of Peace has become an international meeting point for different religions, cultures and nations seeking ever deeper, constant meditation on the themes of peace, tolerance and human rights.