Classica et Christiana, 16/1, 2021 /83-100
All’ombra del Campanile, memoria del Paradiso. Luoghi e interpretazione secolare di ‘componenti’ liturgici del paesaggio [In the shadow of the bell tower, memory of Paradise. Places and secular interpretation of liturgical ‘components’ of the landscape]
Saverio CARILLO
ABSTRACT
In the shadow of the bell tower, memory of Paradise. Places and secular interpretation of liturgical ‘components’ of the landscape. Western tradition attributes to Paulinus of Nola the invention of the bell and above all its liturgical use. Paulinus, a significant figure of Christianity in the 4th and 5th centuries, having carried out intense building activity, has left to Cimitile with archaeological traces, on which, over the centuries, further constructions have been stratified. The Bell Tower of the Monumental Complex of Cimitile is considered to be the first of Christianity. In the nearby Nola, the Campanile of the Carmine Church in the second half of the nineteenth century was completed with a crowning in “riggiole” in the shape of the primitive bell. The first bell, according to tradition, composed foils of hoe tied with leather laces. The same agricultural tool recalled Paulinus, when tu Africa gardener by when, he underwent voluntary imprisonment to redeem and to save the son of a widow, brought to Africa by the Vandals. In memory of the return of Bishop Paulinus from his imprisonment in Africa to Nola, the Festa dei Gigli is celebrated every year.
KEYWORDS
paradise, bell, bell tower, Paulinus of Nola, garden and urban landscape