A bronze pestle and mortar, Brighenti foundry, Bologna dated 1825

46761

Heir to a seventeenth-century family of master builders and engineers, Gaetano Brighenti (1777-1847) had taken over the Rasori bell foundry in 1813, founded in 1740, supported by his son Giuseppe (1798-1837), who proved to be a skilled foundryman. Upon their death, in a moment of crisis in the foundry business, their nephew Clemente (1820-1894) took over. In 1849 only the intervention of the ecclesiastical authority saved the latter from being shot by the Austrians, having agreed to melt down the cannons for the Bolognese Republican Government. Led by his son Giuseppe (1852-1910), the company had strengthened, obtaining recognition in 1900 at the Universal Exhibition in Paris and in 1906 at the International Exhibition in Milan; the following year it was awarded the title of “Pontifical Foundry”. After the Great War, having assumed the dimensions of a small industry, it had created a large number of bells for the "redeemed lands" which had been requisitioned and melted down for war use. The Second World War had led to the destruction of the headquarters, but the activity resumed thanks to the stubborn determination of Cesare Brighenti (1884-1963), continuing until 1958.

Antonio Campigotto

Text taken from "The Wheel and the Anvil, the memory of the Bolognese mechanical industry in Certosa", Minerva, 2016