I visited this Siena during Easter and the only available hotel I could find was in Monte San Savino, about 40 km from Siena and only 5 km from the beautiful little castle of Gargonza. It was here that Dante Alighieri spent the first days of his exile, guest of Count Ubertini.
Not much has been advertised by the local tourist office, but I was surprised to find the very interesting and mystically colourful Holy Friday procession in Monte San Savino.The religious performance starts at about 9 pm and takes the Statue of Jesus Christ all around the narrow streets of the ancient, medieval little town.
Many inhabitants follow the procession from the windows of their houses, switching on all the lights of the rooms as a sign of respect for the ceremony and thus allowing me to get a quick look at the interesting inside of their very old homes, many of them dating from the Middle Ages.
The procession is accompanied by the local brass band – Philharmonic A Gigli – which at the end of the ceremony plays a short concert outside the main church.
The torches are made from a canvas and plaster mould soaked with kerosene giving consistency to the torch and slowing down its burning.
The procession is repeated on Easter Saturday evening, with the same choreography but with another image of the Christ, a statue of the resurrected Jesus with his right hand in the act of blessing the believers.
In ancient times each of the seven Churches had a tavern in town where the wine of their own vineyards were sold. In the morning of Easter day, the men of Monte San Savino made a tour of the churches, paying homage to each of their taverns which, at the end of the tour, left almost all of them quite tipsy – and were very cheerful because it was one of the few days of rest that they were allowed. With the changing of the times however, this habit is no more.
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