Goretti renews its commitment to the Art Bonus initiative. We protect the beauty surrounding us: the belfry of Serra de’ Conti
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Beauty is a virtuous circle which ties us to our territory in a weave of meaningful exchanges. That's something we firmly believe in.
The wonder we create through our applications, to which we devote our daily work, reflects the artistic, natural, historic and social wonders that surround us. With their enchanting beauty, they inspire the hearts and minds of the people who live in the village of Serra de’ Conti – and who, for this reason, are involved in Goretti’s activities.
Thanks to their contribution, beauty flows uninterruptedly: from the territory to the people and from them to our applications, where it takes new shapes.
That’s why in our handicraft and entrepreneurial work we are guided by a precise social responsibility: we take care of beauty so that beauty can continue inspiring us.
In order to do so, this year Goretti has once again renewed its commitment to the Art Bonus, an initiative promoted by the Italian government and aimed to support companies wishing to engage in the enhancement of the Italian cultural heritage through restoring public assets.
The initiative focuses on the restoration of places and architectural structures which are highly significant not only for their economic value, but also for preserving a valuable popular memory and playing an active role in the daily life of their local communities. As is the case for our beloved village, whose ancient beauty needs great care. Serra de’ Conti’s urban area, located on an upland among the gentle hills of the Marche region, in the Misa river valley, testifies a history dating back to the XIII century. Embraced by its monumental medieval walls, the village hosts valuable buildings nestled in a twist of evocative little streets.
This time, thanks to the Art Bonus initiative and the cooperation with the municipality – which farsightedly provided appropriate solutions to allow this kind of patronage – and together with another local company, we contributed to the restoration of a very peculiar architectural structure:
the village belfry (Torre Civica)
Since its construction, the belfry has always been the identity symbol of the village, the beating heart of the old town and the local community.
Its majestic profile stands out in the square it shares with the town hall, a central and vibrant place where the local people meet and connect. You can see it from anywhere, surrounded by the village’s roofs and by the ups and downs of the little streets. From every corner you can hear the sound of its bells, which in sync with the clock have been guiding the activities and celebrations of the village for centuries.
Through the Art Bonus, we contributed to many restoration activities of the tower, but two interventions especially touched us, since they led us to rediscover very ancient traditions. We are referring to the restorations of the bell and the clock, both carried out by master artisans – rare craftsmen who preserve beauty applying arts and techniques which have been passed down through the centuries.
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Solemn yet familiar, the bells’ sound brings fantasy back in time, beating the rhythm of the village’s daily life and receiving great affection from its people in return. To preserve its sound, the old village bell – dating back to the XV century – was removed and brought to the historic foundry Allanconi in Bolzone (in the province of Cremona, in northern Italy). There, a copy of the bell identical to the original piece was created.
The bell’s trip to the foundry was also a chance to get together for our community: in the first days of March a delegation of the Serra de’ Conti municipality led by the major, the parish of the village and some Goretti representatives visited the restoration laboratory to witness the fascinating fusion process and attend the blessing of the new bell, which then took its place in the tower in April. Since then, it has been spreading its sound throughout the village, whereas the original bell will be visible in the exposition site at the bottom of the tower.
In the meantime, the clock is also undergoing a delicate and accurate restoration process. Its valuable original mechanism was realised in 1929 by Edoardo Marconi, one of the most important clockmakers in the Marche region and, after being dismantled and abandoned in 1975, it was recovered in 2009 by the master clockmaker Lino Ceccarelli.
Today, the public clock works through a digital device. The planned maintenance will bring the rose window and the architectural structure around it back to their original beauty, while the old mechanism will be exposed in the tower and reactivated through a manual winding for educational, historic and demonstration purposes.