Le campane di San Filastro, Villongo (BG)

The first church in Villongo is mentioned by the government of the noble Visconti, who had wanted a list of all the churches in Bergamo and Milan in 1360. The old medieval structure, battered and unsafe, was replaced by a Gothic church at the beginning of the 15th century, which was erected as a parish church in the following decades. The new bell tower was built in local stone between 1612 and 1619, replacing the original small Romanesque tower, while the parish church dedicated to Bishop St Filastro was partially rebuilt in the first half of the 18th century to its present form. d' - e' - f' sharp - g' - a' - b' - c'' sharp - d'' The old medieval bells were lowered from the tower in 1841 and recast into a new concert of eight bells, in the key of D major, made by the famous Pruneri foundry in Grosio, considered the best in Italy. The new bells were blessed on Easter Sunday and mounted on the tower the following day. During the Second World War, the two major bells were removed from the tower and requisitioned by the state, which in 1950 paid the parish the 2153 kg of bronze for the new bells cast by Colbachini as war damage. The eight bells are rung by a friend of mine for midday during the patronal feast of St Anne, the third consecutive feast day in the village. The bell tower retains the possibility of ringing the bells manually, but these are rarely rung by bellringers, as it is preferred to ring them with engines. The new church was consecrated on 5 May 1776 and the old pipe organ was replaced in 1822 by a beautiful new instrument, which was renovated in the late 19th century. The interior was embellished in 1854 with elegant Baroque stucco work, complemented by Renaissance paintings in 1919. The parvis houses the old Gothic baptistery, while the interior of the church has many paintings by well-known local painters from the 17th and 19th centuries. #bell #church #catholic #italy #music #landscape #bells #view #catholicchurch #cinematic #history #documentary