Save the bell tower Hagia Sophiathis is the mission of Municipality of Benevento committed to operating on two fronts. Make it safe and defend it from the invasion of pigeons, freeing it, in particular from guano, which is particularly dangerous on a hygienic level and also extremely corrosive as it carries mold and humidity. An operation that we intend to complete in the shortest possible time to safeguard the historic structure which constitutes one of the most appreciated and evocative monuments in the historic center of the capital.
With a view to avoiding the loss of precious time for the safety of the site, the decision with which the sector manager Public Works, architect Antonio Iadiciccoentrusted the intervention deemed “urgent” to theOeep Service srla company based in Montesarchio, to clean the inside of the bell tower from the legacy of its most assiduous and now historic visitors, namely the pigeons, with relative transport and disposal of waste. The installation of temporary frames with net is also planned to be applied to the openings of the bell tower to avoid new and further entrances of the birds.
An operation that will cost 4,000 euros plus VAT, and which is mandatory to allow the professionals in charge of the design to carry out all the activities that consist of carrying out investigations and surveys to draw up a project and the intervention plan. Currently, in fact, it is risky, harmful and almost impossible to access given that there are several centimeters of guano. By touching it or inhaling the dust you risk contracting it toxoplasmosis disease which may be asymptomatic but causes various and significant damage to the human organism.
It had been several years since a clean-up had been carried out, which is why the bell tower had been closed to the public despite continuous requests from groups of tourists heading to the nearby church of Hagia Sophia, UNESCO heritage. The inspections will be the first concrete step to subsequently start the awarding of the works by virtue of the financing of 770 thousand euros allocated by Ministry of Culture intended for the consolidation of the mammoth tower which houses the bells and which was built for the first time between 1038 and 1056 by Gregory II, abbot of Hagia Sophia under the principality of Pandulf III of Benevento, as can be read from a metrical epigraph written in Lombard characters, on a plaque set in the wall of the current bell tower. «The works will begin within the year says the architect Simona De Filippo, sole manager of the procedure appointed by the Municipality and we have already appointed a group of professionals to study the case.
The mandated group leader is the engineer Michele Candela from Avellino, an expert in the consolidation of listed monuments, with him there will be several other experts including the architect Amata Verdino of San Leucio of Sannio. They will have to carry out investigations to verify the state of the structures and the seismic vulnerability and interpret the situation by identifying the type of intervention for which there must then be approval from the Superintendence of Fine Arts and Landscape.
Naturally they will have to make various accesses which are not possible at the moment for reasons of hygiene and health, which is why we decided to have an urgent clean-up carried out. At the same time, the company will place protections on all openings and I clarify that these are temporary closures and therefore will not be particularly aesthetically pleasing. Subsequently, as part of the project on which the professionals are working, architecturally compatible solutions will be studied, to close all accesses but in such a way as to safeguard the beauty of the bell tower”.
War on pigeonstherefore, and concerns for the stability of the bell tower are the priorities set by the council Mastella. For the future, after all the interventions have been completed, the objective is to open the old tower and make it accessible to tourists and residents up to the top, also aiming for daily maintenance by workers. It would be an additional attraction of undoubted importance.
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