What I'd Miss Were I to Leave Rome: the Noon Time Gun

At noon every day, a cannon goes off on the Gianicolo (the Janiculum Hill). Immediately following, the church bells start to ring.

As I live (and work) right under the hill (in Trastevere), I hear this cannon everyday. I set my watch by it (although on 1 November it was four minutes early, and I know it wasn't the fault of my watch because the next day it was on time... or maybe it was correct on only that day and every other day it's 4 minutes late...)

Sometimes, if it's quiet (rare in Rome of course with all the scooters zipping around), you can hear it as far away as Campo de' Fiori or Largo Argentina (in my experience anyway, although the below-linked site claims as far away as Esquilino!)

What would I do without the noon day gun? I suppose it wouldn't be the end of the world -- though my windows rattle when it goes off, to make one think of end times. Maybe that's the appeal? To be reminded everyday of the end of the world? To be reminded of time, for sure...

But it's these small details that are the magic of Rome.

Click here for a short description and history in Italian.