Forgetting Time in Venice

 

I think there is a really funny parallel between the historical cockiness of Venetians and the way our study abroad group got to go on so many balconies and in clock towers so that we were looking down upon the people of the city, just as the Venetians used to look down on the rest of the world. Torre dell'Orologio may not have been the best view we got from a bell and/or clock tower but it certainly was the most unique. I think the presence of there being Zodiac signs on the clock is really compelling, and it makes me wonder if that was remnants leftover from Astrological Paganism before Christianity was widely accepted, because today the zodiacs aren't typically used in conjunction with Christian practices. I also really liked learning about how there was this generational family who kept this clock in manual operation until about 30 years ago. It was a really prestigious job which was a neat fact because it seems so unluxurious and stressful. I guess if you grow up with your parents performing that job, maybe you're happy to fill their shoes –I must assume you’d claim a certain social status along with this occupation as well. The space they were living in was so small though so I was relieved to hear that they could live there for free while they worked. I had seen this clock tower last time I came to Venice and I remember my mom and I thinking it looked so cool. Having the opportunity to get on to the top and see the two men who hit the bell was something my mom was so jealous of when I told her! It was really enlightening because I learned that the older one is representative of the past and the younger one is representative of the future, so the younger one hits the bell 2 minutes after the hour and the older one hits it 2 minutes before. It was so silly to me that our tour guide was saying that the Venetians were always late and can never truly tell what time it is because there's only one bell tower that actually chimes on the hour. Otherwise, they can't really derive time from the clock or bell towers. Time is almost an illusion to the Venetians... they are my kind of people!