The Bell of the Fallen
It rings a hundred times every evening at sundown
The bell commemorates the soldiers who fought the Great War in Trentino: Italians, Austrians, Germans, Polish, Hungarians, Croats, Serbs, Bosnians, Slovenians, Czechs, English and French.
One hundred slow tolls every evening resound through the mountains from the Miravalle hill overlooking Rovereto and Vallagarina: it is the sound of Maria Dolens, the Bell of the Fallen, symbol of the end of the war and of a newfound peace. Made in 1924 from the melted bronze of the cannons of the fighting nations, the bell has since spread its universal message of brotherhood. The history of the bell recalls that of Trentino itself, a long disputed border land that has left behind the wreckage of the past to become a dynamic workshop of coexistence and dialogue, without ever forgetting the duty to remember.
About 3.36 metre high and 3.21 metres in diameter, it is the largest bell in the world to peal out, and the fourth one in weight (over 22.6 tons). All around are stands to host the occasional commemorations.
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