244
15.2 The Reform of Mean Time in Europe
In 1846, at the behest of Pope Pius IX, the Roman College Observatory began to
provide a civil time service. The initiative was part of the first social reforms initiated by the pontiff in the year of his election, with the goal of adapting the Pontifical
State to modern timekeeping. Francesco De Vico (1805–1848), director of the
Observatory of the Roman College, was entrusted with this reform. Upon his death
in 1849, he was replaced by the young Angelo Secchi, newly returned from his stay
in the United States. The reform provided for the adoption of mean time with the
standard hour calculated according to the European system, to replace the Italian
time system. This was also motivated by the expansion of the railway network under
Pius IX.
2
The first initiative concerned the city’s public clocks. Starting in November,
1846, the Quirinale’s clock was the first to tell the hours according to the European
rules, followed gradually by other public clocks. This system was called European
because it had already been adopted in other European countries, notably France
and Spain. It numbered the day with twenty-four hours starting from midnight,
divided into twelve hours before noon and twelve after noon. This system had actually been adopted in the Pontifical States during the brief interlude of the Roman
Republic of 1798–1799, but with the departure of the French troops, the Romans
had gone back to measuring their days according to the traditional Italian method,
numbering the hours starting from half an hour after the sunset, following the recitation of the Ave Maria (as marked by church bells
3
).
The Italian timetable, which followed the natural rhythm of the day, had been the
rule in the Italian states since the Renaissance, but during the Enlightenment in the
eighteenth century, it was replaced in some cities by the French system while still
remaining in effect elsewhere.
4
Many astronomers advocated the adoption of the
European system with the introduction of mean time, which had been in effect in
Geneva since 1780 and in London since 1792. Italian time was hard to represent
with mechanical clocks, which cannot calculate the exact time of Vespers at twilight. Moreover, it was impractical for travel, as the length and time of the hours
changed not only with longitude but also with latitude. Particularly incisive was a
pamphlet,
5
written in 1798 by Giuseppe Piazzi (1746–1826) in Palermo, to promote
the construction of a new European clock for the Royal Palace. In the same year that
he discovered asteroid Ceres, he designed a camera obscura meridian line in the
Cathedral of Palermo, similar to the one made by the astronomers of Brera for the
2 The railway network of the papal state, however, did not develop as the Pontiff had wished.
3 In Rome one could already find pairs of clocks, one with Italian numbering and the other with the
European one; the best known was situated on the face of the Vatican Basilica.
4 The French or European system was introduced in Florence in 1749, in Parma in 1755, in Genoa
in 1772, in Milan 1786, and Bologna in 1796.
5 Piazzi G., “Sull’Orologio Italiano ed. Europeo. (On the Italian and European Clock),” Riflessioni,
Palermo 1798.
M. L. Tuscano
15.2 The Reform of Mean Time in Europe
In 1846, at the behest of Pope Pius IX, the Roman College Observatory began to
provide a civil time service. The initiative was part of the first social reforms initiated by the pontiff in the year of his election, with the goal of adapting the Pontifical
State to modern timekeeping. Francesco De Vico (1805–1848), director of the
Observatory of the Roman College, was entrusted with this reform. Upon his death
in 1849, he was replaced by the young Angelo Secchi, newly returned from his stay
in the United States. The reform provided for the adoption of mean time with the
standard hour calculated according to the European system, to replace the Italian
time system. This was also motivated by the expansion of the railway network under
Pius IX.
2
The first initiative concerned the city’s public clocks. Starting in November,
1846, the Quirinale’s clock was the first to tell the hours according to the European
rules, followed gradually by other public clocks. This system was called European
because it had already been adopted in other European countries, notably France
and Spain. It numbered the day with twenty-four hours starting from midnight,
divided into twelve hours before noon and twelve after noon. This system had actually been adopted in the Pontifical States during the brief interlude of the Roman
Republic of 1798–1799, but with the departure of the French troops, the Romans
had gone back to measuring their days according to the traditional Italian method,
numbering the hours starting from half an hour after the sunset, following the recitation of the Ave Maria (as marked by church bells
3
).
The Italian timetable, which followed the natural rhythm of the day, had been the
rule in the Italian states since the Renaissance, but during the Enlightenment in the
eighteenth century, it was replaced in some cities by the French system while still
remaining in effect elsewhere.
4
Many astronomers advocated the adoption of the
European system with the introduction of mean time, which had been in effect in
Geneva since 1780 and in London since 1792. Italian time was hard to represent
with mechanical clocks, which cannot calculate the exact time of Vespers at twilight. Moreover, it was impractical for travel, as the length and time of the hours
changed not only with longitude but also with latitude. Particularly incisive was a
pamphlet,
5
written in 1798 by Giuseppe Piazzi (1746–1826) in Palermo, to promote
the construction of a new European clock for the Royal Palace. In the same year that
he discovered asteroid Ceres, he designed a camera obscura meridian line in the
Cathedral of Palermo, similar to the one made by the astronomers of Brera for the
2 The railway network of the papal state, however, did not develop as the Pontiff had wished.
3 In Rome one could already find pairs of clocks, one with Italian numbering and the other with the
European one; the best known was situated on the face of the Vatican Basilica.
4 The French or European system was introduced in Florence in 1749, in Parma in 1755, in Genoa
in 1772, in Milan 1786, and Bologna in 1796.
5 Piazzi G., “Sull’Orologio Italiano ed. Europeo. (On the Italian and European Clock),” Riflessioni,
Palermo 1798.
M. L. Tuscano