This article, written by Megan Williams, first appeared on CBC.
Italy’s oldest bell-making shop turns to online overseas sales to keep ancient craft alive
It’s difficult to imagine an Italian town or city without a skyline of turreted church towers or an hourly clamour of bells pealing and chiming in the air.
With the Vatican nestled in the heart of the country, the large bronze instruments have made Christianity literally resonate throughout Italy for centuries
But just as the multitudes called to daily mass by the belfry tolling have all but dried up, the ancient knowledge used to produce the giant bronzes is at risk of vanishing.
And that makes the survival of Italy’s oldest bell foundry — located in the small town of Agnone in the country’s hilly, desolate southern region of Molise — a near miracle.
“This is a complex trade that involves precise understanding of mathematics, physics, geometry and music,” said master bell maker Antonio Delli Quadri, 83, whose customers include the United Nations in New York and the Vatican.
“From the rigour of numbers to the harmony of sound.”
