Okay, here’s a tidbit of information I found to share with
you about the bell tower of the Church of San Marco (in Italian: campinile di San Marco) According to A Brief History of Venice, by Elizabeth
Horodowich, by 1150 this bell tower was serving as a lighthouse of sorts to
help guide ships into the harbor. I have not as yet read specifically how it
was lit. Presumably by torches, but how many, where positioned, etc? If anyone
knows, please share in a comment. (And include your source, as well.)
Church bells throughout Europe rang to help monks and nuns
know the hours of prayer, and became a way for common people to also keep track
of time. The bells in the tower of San Marco, however, were unique and served
quite different purposes. There were five bells altogether, each with its own
name.
The largest bell was called la marangona. This bell rang at the beginning and end of each
workday, summoning laborers to work and telling them when it was time to go
home.
(La marangona, largest of the 5 bells in San Marco's bell tower)
La nona (2nd
largest bell) rang at the ninth hour. This would have been midday, or around 3
PM, on our present clocks. This remained the case on the European continent
until the 14th century, with England being an exception. Later this hour
shifted to around 12 PM and became the basis for our modern word, noon.
La trottiera (3rd
largest) summoned the magistrates of Venice to “rush or ‘trot’ their horses”
(see Horodowich) to the Doge’s palace. (We all know that Doge is the Venetian
word for Duke, right?)
A bell called the pregadi
(4th largest) announced meetings of the Venetian senate.
The smallest bell, and the most sinister one, was called la renghiera or la maleficio. This bell announced an execution was about to take
place.
(San Marco's bell tower the way it looks today,
NOT the way it looked in the 12th century)
When recreating San Marco’s bell tower in the 12th century,
keep in mind that it did not look like the bell tower there today. The present
look of the tower was designed by Bartolomeo Bon in 1514. I have not been able
to discover what the earlier tower looks like, if anyone knows. (Again, if you
have any additional information or sources, please share in a comment.)
Sources used:
A Brief History of Venice:, by Elizabeth Horodowich
The Bells of Venice (website)
Court Will Begin at Half-way Terce (website)
For the bell sizes: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campanile_di_San_Marco
(I used Google Translate to translate information on the bell sizes into
English.)
