A history more than 1,000 years long, that of the Marinelli Foundry has seen alternating moments of difficulty with moments seasoned with much satisfaction. Of all of them, perhaps the most significant experience dates back to 1924, when Pope Pius XI granted the Marinelli family the privilege of effigying the Papal Coat of Arms
and the historic March 19, 1995 visit of St. John Paul II. Campane Marinelli is located in Agnone, an Italian town of about 5,200 inhabitants in the province of Isernia in Molise. An ancient Samnite town, it is home to what is presumed to be the oldest bell-making factory in the world.
It is difficult to research the inventor of bells and the people who first used them. Eastern peoples knew the use of the bell early; in China it is among the oldest bronzes. In India, philosophers used to gather to eat and pray to the sound of bells. In the ancient West, among the Etruscans, the use of bells was also well established. However, bells also had a more prosaic meaning, as in Greece where they were used to signal the opening of the market and the sale of fish.
When people switched from bells to bells, it was believed that the bronze from Campania was the best, and hence the name Campana, precisely from "vasa campana" meaning Campanian vases because of their inverted vase or cup shape. It seems that the first bell made its chimes heard in the city of Nola and that its ingenious inventor was St. Paulinus, Bishop of the City.
The Bell over time has been increasingly seen as a symbol that unites us, becoming more and more a religious and social emblem. On the other hand, some historical figures such as Saladin, Muhammad, and Calvin were enemies of bells and banned them by removing them from bell towers and having them melted down. This invincible fear was due to the fact that extraordinary powers were attributed to them. This power had been increased by the fact that the Church had considered them "res sacrae," blessing them and imprinting inscriptions on them that spoke of communion between earth and heaven. The foundry craftsmen were initially both laymen and monks and made bells from wrought iron. Only later did they mix copper and tin, and obtained bronze bells. Few foundries remain in Italy, and among them the oldest is precisely that of the Marinelli Brothers.
In the heart of Italy in Molise there is a town where the voice of the Angels is born: it is Agnone of the bells, where the art of casting sacred bronzes has persisted for a thousand years.
