They ring the bells very beautifully at Vogogna,
but, unless my recollection of a good many years ago fails me, at
Castelletto they ring them better still.
At Vogogna, while we were getting our breakfast, we heard the bells
strike up as follows, from a campanile on the side of the hill:-
[At this point in the book a music score is given]
They did this because a baby had just died, but we were told it was
nothing to what they would have done if it had been a grown-up
person.
At Castelletto we were disappointed; the bells did not ring that
morning; we hinted at the possibility of paying a small fee to the
ringer and getting him to ring them, but were told that "la gente"
would not at all approve of this, and so I was unable to take down
the chimes at Castelletto as I had intended to do. I may say that
I had a visit from some Italian friends a few years ago, and found
them hardly less delighted with our English mode of ringing than I
had been with theirs. It would be very nice if we could ring our
bells sometimes in the English and sometimes in the Italian way.
When I say the Italian way - I should say that the custom of
ringing, as above described, is not a common one - I have only heard
it at Vogogna and Castelletto, though doubtless it prevails
elsewhere.
