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The Two Towers: The Bell Towers of Sant’Ambrogio

The practice of marking liturgical time through the sound of bells is documented in the West from the 5th century onwards, while the construction of bell towers associated with churches became widespread two centuries later. During the Middle Ages, the ringing of bells marked both the time of prayer and the rhythm of civic life. Bells had names and were blessed through a liturgical rite — in some cases even “baptised”, a practice that was soon sanctioned as early as the Carolingian period. Their voice rang out to ward off storms, wars and plagues, to call the faithful to prayer, to accompany the dead, to celebrate weddings, and to close the day with the ringing of the Ave Maria.

Bells and Civic Life at Sant’Ambrogio

The monastery of Sant’Ambrogio, founded in 784 by Archbishop Peter beside the Basilica, had owned a bell tower since the 9th century. The masonry of the present-day monks’ bell tower, located to the right of the church façade, dates back to the 9th–10th century, while its upper section was altered during the Romanesque period, between the 11th and 12th centuries.
The establishment of the canonical community around the year 1000 did not initially lead to disputes over the use of the bell tower. However, by the end of the 11th century, growing tensions between the two colleges led the monks to forbid the canons from ringing the bells in the older tower. Until then, the canons had owned only a small bell (skella) in the cloister, entirely insufficient to summon the people to religious services — and one which, moreover, the monks had repeatedly destroyed.

The small bell broken by the monks shall be remade with the same weight and dimensions and placed back in the same location in the cloister of the canonry; and the canons shall have no other small bell or tintinnabulum, except the one mentioned above.
Arbitral ruling, 1 September 1123, Chapter Archive of the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio, 12th century-16

For Whom Does the Bell Toll? Monks and Canons in the Shadow of the Two Towers

The canons therefore decided to build a second bell tower on the left side of the church, in the area where the cloister and the residence of the community were located. It was built by the same architect who had been entrusted with the reconstruction of the Basilica in Romanesque style between the late 11th and early 12th centuries. For the base of the new bell tower, several reused sarcophagi were employed — materials which the monks immediately claimed as their own property.

At the beginning of the construction of this same bell tower, and when the laying of this work had just begun, the monks were asked to place its first stones with the sprinkling of holy water and incense; and then the foundation of the said bell tower was built with stones from the monastery.
Allegationes of the monks, trial of 1143–1144

Canons’ Bell Tower.

Monks’ Bell Tower.

On 18 October 1128, the Archbishop of Milan, Anselm V della Pusterla, confirmed the canons’ right to use the new bell tower and to place and ring bells in it, without prejudice to the monks, who were authorised to ring their own bells in the old tower at the established times. The archbishop’s statement underlined the connection between the ringing of the bells and the prayers offered by the canonical community for the entire Milanese community.

We therefore wish and entrust to your liberality the bell tower recently founded in the same church and already largely built, and we wish you to persevere in guarding it. And so that this provision of ours may not seem offensive or negligent to anyone, we do not abolish the customary use of the old bell tower, but approve that it remain in the hands of the abbot and the monks, as is customary. We establish that the canons who are now present in the same church, or who will be there in the future, may place and ring small bells and bells in the aforesaid new bell tower, and that, while ringing them, they may devoutly sing and recite the Psalter and the Pater Noster for the salvation of our soul and of all the faithful.
ASA, Chapter Archive of the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio, 12th century-34

Original parchment document with wax seal and autograph signature of the archbishop (Chapter Archive and Library of Sant’Ambrogio, 12th century-36).

Simple copy of the document granting the use of the bell tower, 12th century (Chapter Archive and Library of Sant’Ambrogio, 12th century-37).

The solution was not accepted. On the contrary, the monks succeeded in winning the arbitration against the canons by relying on a strong network of alliances with members of the city commune and by occupying the disputed bell tower. Only in November 1144, after lengthy negotiations that had forced the pontiff in Rome to intervene, did the Archbishop of Milan, Robaldo, once again confirm the new bell tower to the canons, together with the right to place and ring three bells to gather the city community.

The bitter dispute between monks and canons over the bell towers reached a temporary truce when the city of Milan was forced to face the siege and destruction ordered by Frederick I in 1162. Several years later, the monk Martino recounted that his confreres, who had remained in the city because they had sworn allegiance to the emperor, had entered the canons’ bell tower with a pair of false keys and buried the bells — not out of contempt for the rival college, but to save them from being looted by the Germans.

The Bells of the Basilica

Today, the bell towers of the Basilica house six bells: five in the canons’ tower, commissioned in 1755 by the abbot of the monastery, Andrea Malaspina, and cast by the Milanese founder Bartolomeo Bozzo; and one, the oldest, dated 1582 and bearing no foundry mark, in the monks’ tower. In 1755, there were eight bells: five in the monks’ bell tower and three in the canons’ tower. The latter were sold in 1803, during the suppressions, and later reinstalled in the bell tower of the church of Santa Maria di Momo, in the province of Novara.

+ A FVLGVRE ET TEMPESTATE LIBERA NOS DOMINE MDLXXXII DIE XXV MAII
From lightning and tempest, deliver us, Lord. In the year of the Lord 1582, 25 May.
Inscription on the monks’ bell, 1582

In 1889, during the restoration works on the Basilica, the architect Gaetano Landriani raised the canons’ bell tower, which had already been slightly taller than the old monks’ tower since the late 12th century, by building the present-day belfry.

Gaetano Landriani, survey of the Monks’ Bell Tower and internal section. Comparative plate for the Office for the Protection of Monuments, prepared to assess the raising of the Canons’ Bell Tower.

Gaetano Landriani, project for the new bell tower to be submitted for approval to the Office for the Protection of Monuments. Masonry section and elevation with the signatures of the Art Commission and the Fabbriceria.

The Canons’ Bell Tower of the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan

The bell tower — that is, the tower that houses the bells — is the taller of the Basilica’s two towers and also the more recent one. It contains an important example of early 20th-century engineering.

Gaetano Landriani, watercolour drawing showing a proposed solution for the belfry of the new bell tower.

Gaetano Landriani, plan of the belfry and details for the new bell tower.

As mentioned in the historical section, the monks allowed the canons — the diocesan priests who celebrated in the Basilica and lived in a series of houses to the left of the church — to build a bell tower to announce their own services. Until the arrival of Monsignor Francesco Rossi, an enterprising parish priest who began the most important restoration works after the Romanesque reconstruction of the church in 1864, the bell tower was approximately the same height as the ancient tower on the right, known as the monks’ tower. With the desire to create a Romanesque church according to a style studied in line with the sensibility of the mid-19th century, when both the arts and contemporary thought were moving in that direction, it was decided to “complete” the bell tower. In terms of proportion, the tower appeared too low in relation to the perimeter of its base. The architect Gaetano Landriani was therefore commissioned to study how to raise the tower and complete the belfry. Several different solutions were prepared on finely drawn and watercoloured cards.

The building site was completed at the end of the 19th century, to the great satisfaction of all the members of the Art Commissions.

In the 1930s, the architect Ferdinando Reggiori demolished several 17th-century buildings that stood against both San Sigismondo and the base of the bell tower. His aim was to free the small church and bring its Romanesque parts more clearly into view. These demolitions, however, caused the bell tower to lean, due to the different masonry structures of its two parts: the lower medieval section was built in a sacco masonry — that is, two external brick walls with a central cavity filled with loose material, often not bound with mortar — while the 19th-century upper section was built in solid masonry and was therefore heavier. It thus became necessary to construct a reinforced concrete structure inside the tower which, like a crutch, would support the weight of the higher masonry above the base. The project was entrusted to engineer Arturo Danusso, a professor at the Politecnico di Milano and an expert in such highly particular and certainly innovative structures.

Visit the parish website

The Two Towers: The Bell Towers of Sant’Ambrogio

Bells and Civic Life at Sant’Ambrogio

For Whom Does the Bell Toll? Monks and Canons in the Shadow of the Two Towers

The Bells of the Basilica

The Canons’ Bell Tower of the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan

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Visit the parish website

The Two Towers: The Bell Towers of Sant’Ambrogio

Bells and Civic Life at Sant’Ambrogio

For Whom Does the Bell Toll? Monks and Canons in the Shadow of the Two Towers

The Bells of the Basilica

The Canons’ Bell Tower of the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan

SIGN UP FOR THE AMBROSIUS NEWSLETTER

SIGN UP FOR THE
AMBROSIUS
NEWSLETTER