Pontificia Fonderia Marinelli

The Marinelli family first started the bell foundry nearly 1,000 years ago in the Apennine hills of Italy, in the Kingdom of Naples. The village of Agnone, a small Italian town of 5,200 inhabitants in the province of Isernia in Molise, is where the foundry is now located. The foundry "has a tradition of foundries that dates back 10 centuries." In 1924, the foundry was awarded "the title of pontifical foundry" by the Vatican. The Roman Catholic Church now accounts for 90 per cent of all orders placed for the company. The company is co-owned and operated by brothers Armando and Pasquale Marinelli. ==Notable bells==

The foundry produced the latest bell to be hung within the bell tower of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The bell is a replica of the 17th-century bell damaged in 1944 during the bombings on Italy during World War II. The newest addition started service on Easter 2004, replacing the missing bell for the first time in 60 years. Beijing, Jerusalem, South America, and South Korea. ==Craftsmanship==

bell The firm's managers still apply the same lost wax casting technique that the firm's founders used nearly a thousand years ago. The artisans use wax to transfer the bell's designs onto a brick "core" slathered with clay, slightly smaller than the bell to be cast. Another layer of clay is applied to form a "false bell". After this hardens, the wax inside is melted, leaving the imprint of the design on the inside of the false bell. Molten bronze, at a temperature of around , is poured into the space to form the bell. ==See also==