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Passion
on the streets
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Easter all over Italy people take to the streets
for a series of evocative re-enactments of Christ's
passion. Let's take the via crucis . . . |
 Easter
week in Italy is a time of evocative festivals and
parades that recall the death of Christ. Transcending
time and trends these often painful re-enactments
of Christ's passion are played out on the street
with all onlookers taking the part of the crowds
who accompanied Jesus through his last tragic hours.
These via crucis (literally way of
the cross) processions take place all over the country.
We've brought you some of our favourites . . .
A staggering 400 people take part in Romagnano
Sesia's passion play in the province of Novara.
Feel like something different? Go to Borghetto
d'Arroscia in the province of Imperia (in Liguria)
where the actors are magnificent wooden sculptures,
donated to the village in the 1700s by the Dutch
nobleman Francesco Vannenes.
Life-sized statues are carried with great solemnity
through the streets of Assisi and Gubbio
(both in Umbria) and Porto Recanati (in the
Marches). While those of you who venture to Frassinoro
(in the Apennines south of Modena) will be emerged
in the mystical atmosphere of the Mediaeval abbey.
If you like old music go to Procida, the
smallest island in the Bay of Naples, where you'll
be regaled by wooden trumpets, drums and other unusual
local instruments.
Some of the most poignant and vivid ceremonies take
place in Sardinia and Sicily and owe
much to both islands' one-time Spanish rulers. Many
of the traditional parades in Alghero are
in Catalan. One of the most moving moments of Alghero's
celebrations is the Deposition of Christ in a "bressol"
- a baroque coffin gaudily decorated in gold plate.
Sicily
too has an abundance of Easter festivities, each
one well-worth a visit.
If you're in Rome for Easter you won't want to miss
the famous procession of the cross which starts
off from the Coliseum and is led by the pope. If
you prefer something on a smaller scale then head
out of the city to Sezze or to Grottaferrata
for Holy Friday's Greek Orthodox service in Saint
Nilus' Abbey.
And finally, if you'd like to take part in one of
the processions yourself then Barile,
near Bari, is the place for you. Each year the participants
are chosen by public auction!
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MARCELLO
PARMEGGIANI |
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Mar.
20th, 2002
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THE SURVIVOR'S 
