The time had come to remove Maria Dolens from the Malipiero Bastion and take it to Reggio Emilia to be recast. It was Friday 19 May 1961, and by 20:30 that evening, a large crowd was waiting in Piazza Rosmini to see the Bell pass, as scheduled; but due to a technical problem the onlookers and the authorities waited in vain until after midnight, then went home. The delay was caused by an incident which could have had tragic consequences. In fact, the bronze bell had been unhooked from its frame when its enormous weight caused it suddenly to come away from its temporary supports and fall to the ground, where it lay on its side right on the edge of the bastion, held only by a few iron beams. Fortunately there were no injuries among the soldiers of the 1st Trento Sappers Regiment, who were charged with moving the Bell; they got out of the way just in time, warned by some threatening creaks. Finally, at 5:30 in the morning of 20 May, Maria Dolens left Rovereto as an "unsaluted guest", as the headlines put it in the newspaper “Alto Adige”: "...The crowd gathered in Piazza Rosmini was vast and had awaited the passage of the giant bronze since 20:30, as scheduled. But the bronze never came. The flag-waving began to seem pointless. The town band, having played for hours to draw and entertain the crowd, went home at 23:00. And the Bell still wasn't there! The authorities from near and far had been seated on the platform waiting to hear or deliver official speeches, but they tired of waiting and sneaked off one by one. Only the crests and gold piping of the carabinieri and the local police remained on guard in the square. From 20:30 to 5 am. At last the great horse-drawn cart arrived in the square, having overcome numerous obstacles.

But there was no-one there. Just the crests and the gold piping. And the exhausted sappers, who had worked in silence. And Father Eusebio Jori.

After a few minutes' rest, Maria Dolens departed for Trento in this way...secretly...perhaps the occasional early riser on their way to work saw it and thought:

‘It looked smaller from below…'

And so the Bell went from Rovereto, to be seen and admired by other towns."