We’re bell-proud here in San Maurizio. The church which serves this village of 500 people has six bells in the campanile. Day and night the bells toll the hour in the usual fashion; or almost the usual fashion. After ringing the appropriate number of times for the hour, the whole thing is repeated again three minutes later; maybe we’re particularly inattentive up here on the hill.
In addition to the hours, the bell rings once on the half hour. This is fine for most of the day, but it leaves us unsure in the middle of the day and the middle of the night: 12:30, 1:00 and 1:30 all sound exactly the same, both a.m. and p.m.
Twice a day there is some bonus bonging. At 7 a.m. and again at 8 p.m. a slightly deeper bell rings 50-60 times between the two soundings of the hour. The reasoning for this, I’ve always imagined, is to say, in the first instance, “Hey, it’s time to go outside and start your work. Get going!” and in the second, “Okay, quittin’ time; dinner’s ready, home you go.” Then on Saturdays and Sundays, and sometimes on Thursday afternoons the bells play a short selection of tunes, most quite jazzy. Of course there is also extra ringing for weddings (few and far between) and funerals.
There is something awful about this for dogs. The normal ringing of the bells doesn’t elicit any canine response, but the sonic frequency of the extra long, low peals as well as the songs must hurt their ears. North, south, east and west, they all start to bark, howl, squeal and moan. Every dog in town weighs in saying, “ow, ow, ow – stoooop!” Finally the bells stop and so do the dogs.
There’s a sound clip of one of the regular tunes our bells play here. If you listen carefully you may hear some canine dissent. Apologies for the quality of the video – my camera isn’t really designed for it, and I’m a bit jiggly at the start.
Don’t you have an image of a monk, robes flying, racing from one bell pull to the next to play so fast? Or perhaps several, trying not to trip over each other? Or maybe a Quasimodo figure up amongst the bells themselves, ringing them with a big mallet, as if they were a xylophone? Alas, those days are over. The bell ringing is done by computer. There’s a control box under the bell tower, and the priest can select the music he wants to play.
The dogs don’t care how it’s done. They just don’t care for it.
An Ex-Expatriate 
The bells are an issue for me and my husband at the family mountain house, located about 50 yards from the town’s church tower. Like most, the 7 a.m. bells toll the time and then chime with 120 bongs which run for 3 solid minutes. Although they are nice sounds, that time is too early to be happy to hear them, especially on Sunday. Even if we want to go to church, we shouldn’t have to hear those bells until at least 8 a.m. Aren’t we allowed to sleep in once a week, I ask?
Also the 12 midnight round can also be a problem: just enough to wake you up if you went to bed a little earlier. 12 bongs are quite a few.
The good part about bells is the practical nature of knowing the hour without having a time piece on you. I used to rely on that quite a lot when living in Venice, a city full of church towers ringing the time from every angle.
50 yards from the bells is pretty close, Irene… I can see why you might not enjoy the 7 a.m. Sunday extravaganza. But I agree about keeping track of the time. I don’t wear a watch myself, so I find the bells extremely useful.
Our serious bonging starts at 6h30 for some reason… And we also have the bongs three minutes to the hour and then again on the hour. What’s that all about? Then there is the special ring that signals that someone has popped their clogs (quite a regular occurrence in a village full of golden oldies). I can’t say the ringing of any of the three bell towers bothers me unduly, except when I’m in the piazza underneath a bell tower at the time, in which case it makes me want to kill people…! (Which I refrain from doing because it would automatically mean more bongs).
Three bell towers… you’re rich, SV! Starting at 6:30 seems odd. Did someone decide that was when everyone should wake up? I’ve always imagined the repeated ringing is because people don’t think to count on the first set, so they give everyone a second chance to know the time (unless it’s 12:30, 1:00 or 1:30!). I love the bells…
Your church bell ringing sounds so complicated but must be interesting ! The bells in Marta are every quarter of an hour and when we lived in the centro storico for a time last winter found we hardly heard them after awhile. Guests do sometimes moan cheerfully about them and other Italian town living noises, but not as much as the ones who stay with us in the countryside complain about dogs and cockrels crowing, sounds that donot disturb us at all, having been country dwellers for years, we just do not notice these noises! Although sometimes the screech owl wakes us up!
I guess we all grow accustomed to quotidian sounds – which is a good thing for those of us living in noisy Italy!
I have become used the sound of the bells in our village and rarely hear them. They start at 7.00 am and end at – I don’t know when. I only hear them when I am listening for them , or when someone else points them out. I also seldom hear the ducks in the river, but they keep our visitors awake sometimes. Growing up at the beach, only our visitors heard the sound of the surf. I guess I just become accustomed to regular sounds. I love the sounds of the bells when I do listen.
We love the bells too. It is something we miss a great deal when we’re not here. The bells do sometimes keep guests awake at night – but not as much as the roosters, who crow off and on all day beginning at about 3 a.m.