The extremely ancient art of casting bells, of which we are, at present, among the very few guardians, has been passed down for generations from father to son, and the secrets of the craft are jealously guarded. Despite the availability of modern industrial techniques, the choice made by our foundry is to continue today in the sign of tradition, to safeguard those assets of knowledge handed down from generation to generation that would otherwise be lost forever. We have always combined tradition with modern technology for quality control: all in all, a bell still is a musical instrument, and our instruments allow us to 'see' the sound and control every nuance of it, ensuring in this way an absolute quality and artefacts characterised by an engaging sound, that goes straight to the heart.

We make use of artisan methods and local raw materials such as clay, hemp, beeswax and horsehair. This is because the true ability of a craftsman is to work with skilled hands on simple materials, in order to turn them into unique products. And it is precisely this that the Allanconi family still do today. The decision to continue the trade according to tradition comes from the awareness that the quality, the uniqueness of the sound and the appearance of an artisan artifact can never be replaced by an industrial product.

Our history begins with my grandfather Angelo Allanconi, the founder of our family. Angelo was born in Bolzone on the 2nd December 1915. He began his training at the historic Crespi foundry, one of the oldest and most important Italian foundries, whose origins date back to 1498. The experience matured at the Crespi foundry allowed Angelo to become foreman. In that role, he supervised the exceptional remelting activities in the years immediately after the Second World War. It is from the Crespi family and thanks to the experience gained on the job that Angelo learned the secrets of the ancient art of casting bells and, in particular, the art of drawing, i.e. mathematical and geometric formulas which allow one to trace the outline of a bell, giving the latter the characteristic shape and sound. After his experience at Crespi, Angelo was invited to work at other important historical Italian foundries, including Barigozzi in Milan and Filippi in Chiari. At these last two foundries, Angelo brought his sons Ottavio and Giordano to work with him, so that they too could learn the trade.

In the 1970's, Angelo, with a vast wealth of knowledge to pass on and tired of working away from home, decided to return to Bolzone and start modelling his own bells: his foundry was born. In Bolzone, in the province of Cremona, where he had always lived with his family, Angelo began his work - helped by his now grown-up three children Ottavio, Giordano and Pietro - which he continued until his death in 2002.

As a child I enjoyed watching my grandfather at work and, infected by his passion for this job, I too became fascinated by it. After finishing high school, I too decided to start working in the foundry, and today it is I that continue the family activity, still together with my uncles.