The 21 Chimes
This near century-old tradition has been revived for over 92 years and is repeated every evening in the heart of the city.
At 6pm, in Piazza Mameli, the bell of the war memorial tolls 21 times to pay homage to the victims of all wars.
The two numbers have not been chosen at random: the Italian alphabet has 21 letters and all of them ideally recall the names of the Fallen; 6pm was precisely the time when the armistice of the First World War was publicly announced. The bells rang for the first time on 18 September 1927.
The occasion was the unveiling of the War Memorial by the famous sculptor Luigi Venzano, in the presence of King Vittorio Emanuele III.
Every day, at 6pm, the city comes to a halt: drivers and pedestrians stop and stand still to devote a brief but deep thought to all those who lost their lives in wars.
