In this video I'm in Caramanico Terme, an Italian town in the province of Pescara in Abruzzo. Caramanico is located on the north-western slopes of the Majella massif between the valleys of the Orta river and its tributary Orfento and it is classified among the most beautiful villages in Italy.
The church of Santa Maria Assunta or Santa Maria Maggiore was built in the 15th century in local stone with Romanesque-Gothic characters. It has a rectangular plan with a straight apse. The façade overlooking the Orta valley is incomplete so the entrance is located on the vast side wall of neoclassical imitation. The artistic Gothic portal of 1452 is characterized by various ornaments including the overlapping trefoil aedicules that reproduce Hope, Charity, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance and Prudence. In the lunette there is the high relief representing the coronation of Mary made by the Teutonic artists. The sculptural group consists of the Virgin crowned by the three Persons of the Trinity and is surrounded by kneeling angels.
The end wall on Corso Bernardi is in tanned stone and is enriched with sculptural ornaments, columns of various sizes leaning against the wall and statues from the best pre-Gothic schools. At its side rises the bell tower with a conical end marked in 4 orders and opened in the belfry by 4 large arches. It has an imposing crowning given by the cornice with metopes decorated in great relief, by the intertwined arches, by the rose windows and by the noble insignia of the house of Aragon. The interior, completely transformed in 1595, is internally divided into 3 naves with five arches on each side and ends with the raised presbytery. In the center of the right wall, there is the Baroque marble altar of the Assumption, the monstrance of gilded copper by Nicola da Guardiagrele (1380-1471). Interesting the canvas "The Last Supper" on the back wall and the artistic crucifix of the fifteenth century. In the sacristy there is an interesting fifteenth-century triptych in tempera.
The church is currently closed to the public due to the monk's collapse in the vaults due to the excessive weight of the exceptional snowfall of January 18, 2017. The Regional Superintendency has taken steps to make it safe and work will soon start for the reconstruction of the roof and the internal restorations.
The bell tower hosts a concert of 10 bells cast by the Capanni foundry of Castelnovo ne' Monti under the parish of Don Giuseppe Liberatoscioli and blessed by Mons. Antonio Valentini. The 6 major ones are electrified by momentum and with the hammer while the 4 small ones are fixed and play only the melodies. Bells I, V, VI, VII, VIII and X were merged in 1986 while II, III, IV and IX in 1987. These bells are truly solemn and festive all together and for this reason I was very keen to document them. I shot the different plays from different perspectives also using the drone where it was possible for me.
X (S. ROCCO) - note LA4 - 42 kg;
IX (OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY) - note SOL4 - 46 kg;
VIII (MADONNA ASSUNTA) - note FA#4 - 56 kg;
VII (S. ANTONIO DI PADOVA) - note FA4 - 66kg;
VI (JESUS ​​CRUCIFIED) - note RE#4 - 92 kg;
V - (SACRED HEART) - note DO#4 - 131 kg;
IV (S. LUCIA) - note DO4 - 170 kg;
III (S. GIUSEPPE) - note LA#3 - 235 kg;
II (TO THE FALLEN - MARIA DOLENS) - SOL#3 - 340 kg - recast to replace a bell of the Mari Foundry from 1947;
I (MARIA SS. ASSUNTA IN CIELO) - note DO#3 just rising - 1372 kg.
Video summary:
- 0:00 INTRODUCTION WITH VIEWS AND CHURCHES S. NICOLA, SAN MAURO AND S. MARIA ASSUNTA;
- 0:30 CHURCH OF SS. TRINITY;
- 0:37 MONUMENT TO THE FALLEN AND MUNICIPAL BUILDING;
- 1:10 ILLUSTRATION OF THE CHURCH OF S. MARIA ASSUNTA;
- 4:00 PRESENTATION OF THE BELLS AND PANORAMICS;
- 6:05 ASCENDING EXTENSION OF BELLS V AND VI;
- 8:30 ASCENDING EXTENSION OF BELLS III, IV, V AND VI;
- 16:20 ASCENDING EXTENSION OF THE 6 MAJOR BELLS;
- 21:30 ASCENDING EXTENSION OF BELLS III, IV, V AND VI;
- 25:35 ASCENDING EXTENSION OF THE 6 MAJOR BELLS.
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