Man has always felt the need of scanning the rhythms of his existence through the time measurement. Since ancient times, philosophers and men of science have dedicated their life to try to realize the most precise and sophisticated tools to mark the running of time. The “Astrario” of Corte Costavecchia is a splendid object, in which science and art mingle. Commissioned by Gabriele Gazzani, this handmade article is the buttonhole flower of the clocks of Corte Costavecchia, all realized by hand. Tempus Omnibus Idem, "The time is the same for everybody", states the Latin sentence on the central plate: and so the Astrario beats the time of the men and the one of the universe.
This wonderful mechanism shows in fact the movements of the planets, the sun and the moon, regulated by the beating of a clock.
The clock marks the running of time and can be consulted in every moment of the day and the night, also in adverse climatic conditions.
The Astrario is the direct heir of the ancient planetary clocks, in which the position of the celestial bodies towards the earth allowed to determine the astrological influences with exactness. The manufacture of this type of clocks requires in-depth astronomical knowledges, accurate calculations and skillness in the mechanical workings. It has been realized in six months of work. The Astrario has a clock-face elegantly decorated on which are depicted:
the minutes,
the hours,
the half hours,
the quarters,
the degrees of the sun,
the zodiac,
the months,
the lunar days,
the lunar phases.
In the middle of the quadrant there is the terrestrial globe, represented according to ptolemaic cosmological vision. Around the main quadrant are set eight small clocks representing the five planets known in that time: Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Mercury.
In the sixth opening the Dragon is set. It points out with its tongue the nodes and the lunar eclipses.
Low, on the left, the clock-faceshows the days of the week that correspond to the symbols of the planets.
The extraordinary aspect of this creation is that an only hand marks every thing: the hours, the minutes and the half hours.
L'Astrario si può ammirare nella Villa Padronale
The mechanism of the “Colombaia” Tower
The “Colombaia” Tower with its clock.
The internal mechanism.
The “Colombaia” Tower ofCorte Costavecchia
is provided of an eighteenth-century mechanism with external clock-face.
The ancient tower clock has recently been restored. The restoration has consisted in the remaking in iron of the clock-face, in the manual cleaning with special brushes, and in the construction of the lacking pieces to integrate the gaps of the original mechanism. The mechanism of this clock is connected to some little bells that ring every hour and to every quarter (for example at 10, 10.15, 10.30 and 10.45): this because anciently the hard job of the fields was articulated by the quarters.
The Monastic “Svegliarino”
(ancient alarm clock)
The Monastic “Svegliarino” or “Svegliatore” was the clock that marked the hours of the prayer and the conventual life. It represents one of the first clocks of the history, together with the public clocks destined to the bell towers and to the civic towers.
It was the system that informed about the seven "canonical times" (matins, prime, tierce, sext, none, vespers and compline), that indicated when to recite determined prayers. This tool didn't generally have an indication of the time, but it played to pre-arranged times. It has an only hand and is operated by the strength of the weight withmanual winding.
The Monastic “Svegliarino” or “Svegliatore” in the entrance hall of the Restaurant Corte Costavecchia.
The Roaster
To this clock mechanism a spit has been applied rather than the tree of the hands.
The Roaster, realized in wrought iron, is perfectly operating and can be admired at work in the restaurant main dining room.
The Roaster, in the principal room of the restaurant Corte Costavecchia.
