Janello Torriani: his name is almost unknown, although in life it was often associated with that of Archimedes. He managed to fascinate the two most powerful sovereigns of his time, Charles V and his son Philip II, who wanted him by their side, considering him a genius like Leonardo da Vinci is for us today.
Unlike Leonardo, Janello Torriani did not know how to paint, he was a rough man and anything but noble, yet his big blacksmith's hands knew how to create marvels that all of Europe aspired to: extremely sophisticated mechanisms, managed by elaborate mechanical combinations that we today are guaranteed by the most advanced technology.
From his mind and his hands came perfect watches, in their dozens of functions, and beautiful. Wonderful automatons that aroused the admiration and amazement of the Courts. It was he who elaborated the applications of the cardan suspension still in daily use, but which took its name from another, the Cardano precisely.
When he was born no one can say with certainty, it is supposed to be around 1500. The legend tells of the event that took place at the precise moment Janello was born: lightning tore through the sky to be discharged on Torrazzo's clock.
As if to foresee that that newborn would be inextricably linked to the functioning of the clocks.
At that time the Astrario by Giovanni Dondi was legendary, but Torriani, commissioned by Charles V, built the most complex planetary clock in history moved by about 1800 mechanical components called Microcosm. It was in fact he who invented the first milling machine for the construction of gear wheels. The enterprise took more than twenty years to design and three to build.
He did not hold back in the face of any challenge, not even what seemed to everyone impossible, such as raising the waters of the Tagus to the top of the Alcazar of Toledo. In fact, he built for the King of Spain the first cyclopean machine in history that raised water up to a height of one hundred meters (almost like the Torrazzo of Cremona) bringing 18 liters of water a day to the royal castle along a 300-metre route.
Torriani's fame led him to participate in the Gregorian calendar reform: no one knew the perfection of the time like him.
