The day the bells do not ring

The only day of the year when the bells do not ring in Italy is today, Good Friday, and it is startling to realize how much I take for granted the peals that sound all over Rome, all day long. Without my even noticing, they mark the rhythm of my day — when I am at Otaleg (“Gelato Spelled Backwards”), at the bar enjoying a cappuccino and brioche, and, as is so often the case, the door is open and the bells of San Pancrazio are ringing loudly. When I am at the market, exchanging recipes with various ladies or buying asparagus and greens, with the bells of Regina Pacis sounding nearby. When Teddy and I go on our walks and swimming sessions in the neighborhood park and fountains of Villa Sciarra…

a surprisingly acoustic hotspot for Rome, with so many bells to enjoy, most of all nearby San Pietro in Montorio.

But today is Good Friday and they do not ring.

Last night, in many Italian churches, was the Washing of the Feet. The last time I observed this was at Rome’s Episcopal and Anglican church, Saint Paul’s, where the feet washed by the rector included six formerly homeless persons, later welcomed into the church’s refugee programs. After the service, the bells pealed up and down Via Nazionale — and then were still. It is a good day, today, to hear Rome’s cannon on the Janiculum, whose ferocious noontime sounding is usually accompanied by the peal of bells across the city, and which sometimes muffles its boom completely.

Today, at one of my single favorite Roman churches, San Benedetto in Piscinula, with Rome’s smallest bell tower, one of the orders of cavalier knights keeps watch. The vigil will last through the daylight hours and then through the night until dawn. It is a poignant sight: a pair of knights in full formal dress, walking without pause, up and down the narrow aisles of this crooked, magnificent Romanesque church with its Cosmatesque tiled floors. They stand guard, waiting the time through until morning.

Go to the Janiculum today and look out at one of the world’s great views: Rome spread before you like an extraordinary carpet, the Apennines just beyond. Go and hear the unnerving, reflective quiet.