“Fior di mezzogiorno..”
sound installation
for the Londa clock tower
(2023) • sound art / land art • ∞
“Fior di mezzogiorno..”
sound installation
for the Londa clock tower
(2023) • sound art / land art • ∞
Fior sul viale
Flower on the boulevard
Per le ore Londa ha venduto il sole
For the hours Londa sold the sun
Per le ore Londa ha venduto il sole
For the hours Londa sold the sun
E la sera presto.. sale
And evening soon rises
A popular saying whose origins are unknown says that ‘the inhabitants of Londa sold the sun to buy the clock’ since the valley is among the shadiest in the Val di Sieve area and such a tall clock tower is not common for such a small village. This fairy-tale and ironic story inspired the project that, at the striking of the bell in the clock tower, brought to the village and valley of Londa a different singing every hour, a new way of composing stornelli¹ and new life to the old analogue clock gears, still present in the tower but now disused for more than twenty years.
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¹“Stornello” is an Italian folk song form, probably of Tuscan origin (18th century), consisting of a quinary containing the invocation and two endecasyllables, the second of which is rhymed with the initial quinary; very suitable for improvisation and frequent especially in singing competitions between peasants. Read more from Research and Documentation Centre on Oral Culture of the Cultural Association ‘La Leggera’
Agnese Banti interprets our relationship with time: what we look at, where we tend our ear to, enveloping it in sonorities intimately placed in the life of the village of Londa. The chiming of the clock in the Municipal Palace becomes the incipit of a larger story: a secular tower that speaks to its community, becoming a physical space and no longer just a symbol. It is 4 p.m. – “fior di montagna”, now 5 p.m. – “fior della Sieve”, then 9 p.m. – “for the hours Londa has sold the sun”. The sound installation brings to light the poetics of the human and its history, interspersing words with the forgotten sound of old clock gears. The stornelli composed and interpreted by the artist propagate through the village at the stroke of each hour, generating a time out of the ordinary in which to find oneself. (Martina Aiazzi Mancini)
Sound composition and stornelli¹: Agnese Banti
IT project: Andrea Trona
Technical setup: Daniele Carcassi
The stornelli aria, known in various areas around Florence, is taken from ‘Coglila la rosa’, present in the repertoire of the Maggiaioli di Barberino di Mugello and published in 1994 in ‘…V’ENTRASSE LA VORPE NI’ POLLAIO!… – Scores and Lyrics (1967-1994)’ by A. Bitetti and E. Mongatti, edited by M. Banti.
Realised in the context of “A Dimora. Le Residenze d’artista della Montagna Fiorentina” project of the Municipalities of Londa and San Godenzo developed by LAMA Impresa Sociale financed by the European Union – Next Generation EU, Ministry of Culture and co-financed by the European Project Future DiverCities (Creative Europe)
Thanks to: Martina Aiazzi Mancini, Alessandro Bartoletti, Giulia Galbusera, Chiara Manfriani and A Dimora team; Mino Banti, Lanfranco Pieraccini and Maggiaioli Barberino di Mugello; Moreno Fontani, Nada Rossi and Londa Municipality; Filippo Marranci and the Research and Documentation Centre on Oral Culture of the Cultural Association ‘La Leggera’
Installed in the Londa clock tower, Piazza Umberto I, Londa (Florence) on 9th and 10th September 2023 , in occasion of A Dimora and from 18th to 23rd July 2024 in occasion of Festival de La Montagna Fiorentina.
photo © Agnese Banti, videos © Alessandro Bartoletti