Originality & Tradition

The Bottle Sundial combines the science of time measure with the tradition of Tuscan winemaking and moments of relaxation with the originality of a unique object.

A Unique Piece of Gnomonic Art

The Bottle Sundial is a perfect fusion of a gnomonic tool and toast break indicator for healthy drinking.

Bottle Sundial in a Nutshell

  • It is an Equatorial Sundial for indicating the True Time of Campopalazzi.
  • It is an indicator of the solstices and equinoxes.
  • It shows 1 pm and 5 pm like classic clocks. 5 pm is indicated as the Sun Drink Line.
  • The indicator is an arm with a graceful female hand holding a glass with a gnomonic teardrop hole.
  • The bottle sundial is tilted in order to be parallel to the Earth's axis.

How To Read It

The hours are indicated by the upper part of the spot of light created by the drop of glass. The vertical lines indicated by the Roman letters VI, VII...XII, I…V, indicate the true hours of Campopalazzi. The horizontal lines indicate the solstices (top and bottom line) and the equinoxes (center line). The central 8-shaped line (lemniscate) marked 13, indicates 1 o'clock on the wristwatch. The circles in the lemniscate indicate the beginning of each month. The other line, the Sun Drink Line, indicates 17 o'clock. It is a lemniscate with part of it removed to make it resemble wine being poured from a glass.

How it’s Made Up

The sundial consists of 4 main parts: a corten half-bottle, an orange covering, an arm holding a glass with a drop-shaped hole and finally the actual sundial. The orange internal part is made of subsequently painted stainless steel, as is the arm with the indicator glass. The sundial is of the equatorial type, made of stainless steel with subsequent sandblasting treatment with glass microspheres to make the surfaces opaque. The half corten bottle is over 3 meters long and is inclined so as to be parallel to the earth's axis.

Other Curiosities

The Bottle Sundial holds many secrets. Here you can find more information and download detailed documentation.

Study & Design

The Bottle Sundial is a project by engineer Nicola Ulivieri for the location of Campopalazzi (Latitude: 43°07'47.7''N, Longitude: 11°20'36.8''E) realized by MC Siviero Srl with extreme precision.
Cataloged on SundialAtlas with code IT023420. Link

Bottle’s Secrets

The Bottle Sundial holds a secret. Underneath it hides a real bottle of wine drowned in the concrete plinth that will perhaps be discovered in future centuries.

Documentation

Download the opera's Brochure. Link
Download the article "Un'Opera Gnomonica per Brindare" (Italian-not yet available). Link
Book "I Segreti degli Orologi Solari"