In Italy almost every town has its saint and its festival, and most of them come down to a Mass, a procession and fireworks in the evening. Then there are the festivals that are like no other: whole cities that for one day live for nothing else, rites repeated unchanged for centuries, moments when devotion becomes a spectacle that leaves even non-believers speechless. We have chosen five, from Gubbio to Trapani, with the dates to put them in your diary.
The five festivals
1. Saint Agatha, Catania
When: from 3 to 5 February.
It is one of the most attended religious festivals in the world. On 3 February the offering of wax and the eighteenth-century carriages of the Senate open the celebrations; at dawn on the 4th, after the Mass of the Dawn, the silver float with the saint's relics leaves the cathedral for its tour around the outer city. It is pulled with two long ropes by devotees dressed in the white sacco, shouting «Semu tutti devoti tutti», we are all devotees. On the 5th the procession climbs Via Etnea among the candelore, the heavy carved candle towers of the guilds, carried on shoulders with a swaying gait the people of Catania call «annacata». The stalls sell minne di Sant'Agata, small white cassata cakes topped with a candied cherry that recall the young martyr's suffering. The saint also has a summer feast, on 17 August, for the return of her relics from Constantinople in 1126 (the festival page).
2. The Festa dei Ceri, Gubbio
When: 15 May.
Three large wooden towers, crowned by statues of Saint Ubaldo, Saint George and Saint Anthony the Abbot, are carried at a run through the streets and then up Monte Ingino, to the basilica where the patron saint lies. It is not a re-enactment: it has been repeated every year since at least the twelfth century, and it is among the oldest festivals in Italy. Arriving first is not the point, because the order is always the same: what counts is carrying your cero without letting it fall. The weight the festival carries for Umbria can be seen on its flag: since 1973 three stylised ceri have been the symbol of the Region (the festival page).
3. The Festino of Santa Rosalia, Palermo
When: mid-July, with the main night between the 14th and the 15th.
«Viva Palermo e Santa Rosalia» is the cry that has accompanied u fistinu for four centuries, the festival the city has dedicated to its patron saint since 1624, when the end of the plague was attributed to her relics, found on Monte Pellegrino. On the evening of 14 July the triumphal float with the statue of the Santuzza travels along the Cassaro, from the Royal Palace to the Foro Italico, amid music, theatre and thousands of people. The finale is the fireworks fired over the sea; on the 15th the festival continues with the procession of the relics through the old town (the festival page).
4. The Madonna della Bruna, Matera
When: 2 July.
The festival has been held every year since 1389, when Pope Urban VI established the feast of the Visitation on that date, building on a devotion that already existed in the city. What sets it apart from all the others is the ending. The triumphal papier-mâché float, built over months by a craftsman chosen each year, carries the statue through the city and then, in the square, is stormed by the crowd and torn to pieces: whoever manages to take home a fragment keeps it as a souvenir and a protection. Every year the float is destroyed and every year it is rebuilt from scratch (the festival page).
5. The Procession of the Misteri, Trapani
When: Good Friday.
Twenty sculpted groups of wood, canvas and glue, telling the Passion of Christ, set out on the afternoon of Good Friday and cross the city all night long, carried on the shoulders of the ceti, the old trade guilds. The procession ends around two in the afternoon on Saturday, and it is opened by the Separation, the group looked after by the goldsmiths. The pace is slow and swaying, to the rhythm of bands playing funeral marches. For the rest of the year the Misteri stand in the church of the Purgatorio, where they can be seen up close (the festivals of Trapani).
More for your diary
In 2013 UNESCO added the network of Italy's great shoulder-borne processional structures to the intangible heritage of humanity: the Macchina di Santa Rosa in Viterbo, on 3 September, the Gigli of Nola in June, the Varia of Palmi in August and the Candelieri of Sassari, which descend through the city on 14 August. In all four, enormous structures are lifted and carried through the streets by hundreds of men. And in Enna, on 2 July, the statue of the Madonna della Visitazione rides on the Golden Ship of 1590, carried by 124 brothers through the upper town.
How to see them
These festivals draw huge crowds: for Catania, Palermo and Gubbio book your accommodation months ahead and arrive the day before. Times change from year to year and are published by the festival committees and the dioceses. Every festival has its own page in the events section of its town, and the Friday agenda flags the dates as they approach.
