The dismantling of ‘Dies Natalis,’ the machine of Santa Rosa created by Raffaele Ascenzi, was completed this morning. Following its traditional transport on September 3rd and a multi-day exhibition in front of the Monastery of Santa Rosa, the famed ‘walking bell tower’ has now been returned to its storage facility on Tuscanese road, where it will remain until 2026.
This year, the structure debuted in early July instead of its usual late August appearance for an extraordinary two-month display. This initiative, backed by the Frontini administration to coincide with the Jubilee and supported by a poster campaign extending to Rome, aimed to promote tourism related to Santa Rosa beyond the single day of September 3rd and to highlight the tradition in its entirety.
The heavy vehicles from the Fiorillo company, the firm responsible for the structure’s construction, began disassembly operations at dawn. By 11 a.m., two-thirds of the massive apparatus had already been loaded onto transport trucks, and the entire process was finalized by 3 p.m.