MESSINA - C : ITALY - ME

*Location:

   Duomo di Messina
   (Messina Cathedral)
   Piazza Duomo
   Messina, Sicilia (Sicily), Italy
   LL: N 38.19241, E 15.55469
Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Contact:

   (unknown)

*Schedule:

   Quarters and hours with 7 levels of
   animation from a huge astronomical
   clockworks.

*Remarks:

   Octave by Colbachini, Padua; #1,3,5
   swing by motor; others are fixed.
   Also 2 clock bells by Micheal Solicula
   in 15th c., which survived the
   earthquake of 1908.

*Technical data:

   Electric-automatic chime of  8 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is F# in the middle octave
   Transposition is not applicable
   Keyboard range:     F#F#  /    NONE  
   There are no added semitones
   The whole instrument was installed in 1929
     with bells made by Colbachini  
   Auxiliary mechanisms: S3Q2H 
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2020
*Links:

The English Wikipedia article about the cathedral is little more than a stub, but it has a photo of the building and mentions the astronomical clock & animated glockenspiel in the tower.
A separate article about the great astronomical clock has photos of it.  Two figures on the sixth level strike the quarter hours, apparently on the two old bells.

The Italian Wikipedia article about the cathedral has a different photo, and much more text, including a section about the tower; but it does not mention any bells.
A separate article about the tower has several photos of it, and a short paragraph about the bells.

None of the above articles make clear what bell is used for the hour strike, nor what animation might be associated with that (except for the mid-day action).  There are 7 levels of animation on the west face of the tower, topped by ordinary clock dials at the base of the spire.  On the south face of the tower are two large astronomical clock faces.  Most of the bells of the concert are individually visible in belfry openings at the topmost stage of the tower.

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of the Colbachini bellfoundrY, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all Italian chimes by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all Italian chimes by pitch of largest bell.
Ranking among all Italian chimes by year of completion.

Index to all tower bell instruments in Italy.

*Status:
   This page was built from the database on  4-May-22
   based on textual data last updated on 2022/03/21
   and on technical data last updated on 2022/03/24
*Photos:

(none available)

Explanations of page format and keyboard range are available.

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