San Luigi Gonzaga

I do like a good religious festival! On the first day here I spotted posters for five days of celebration for San Luigi Gonzaga. San Luigi was born in 1568 into an aristocratic family, he died in 1591 as a result of caring for victims of a serious epidemic.

The pageantry of the processions through town are often intriguing so we decided to find a spot and wait until the procession passed us. A restaurant perfectly placed for us located, we had Aperols then followed that with another local speciality, the puccia. This looks like a hamburger but is actually made from pizza dough so is hot and crispy but the filling is cold. Mine had eggplant, zucchini, tomato, soft cheese and olive patè. Kel's had mozzarella, tomato, prosciutto and truffle filling - and they were absolutely fabulous.

We had just finished eating when along came a police woman is a body hugging uniform waving her paddle at people to move their car from the narrow street, and then we heard the band. They rounded the corner and processed past us followed by the leading group with the banner of the Confraternity, lady parishioners who must have had a specific role, the men of the Confraternity, the clergy and the members carrying the statue of San Luigi. Lastly came a large number of parishioners, old and young. As they continued down the street there was much banging ... fireworks?

When the band isn't playing the miked up priest (accompanied by the portable P. A. carrier) recites prayers.

It is usually a long route around the town, often passing other churches or places of significance, so it requires stamina on the part of the older congregation.

Another thing we have learnt over the years is that the statue of the saint is not usually marble but either wood or, very often, paper machè. 

We decided to cut across town to see the procession arrive at the church of San Luigi Gonzaga.

Reaching Porta Nuova, we rounded the corner to find that the previously talked about coloured lights had been installed in the street and were lit. Also in the small piazza were several stalls, all selling nuts or sweets.

Eventually the police car came by clearing the way for the procession to reach its destination.

At the church San Luigi Gonzaga was taken up onto the steps at the door, the band played two long pieces of music, somebody spoke, prayers were said ... and all the time the traffic was stuck behind the large crowd that had gathered. Only one or two people dared to toot.

When the fireworks began the drivers got back in their cars ready to crawl through the crowd and out the ancient gate.

We waited for the crowd to clear then headed home, finding an excellent gelateria along the way. The serves were so huge that it required very fast licking! It was 28 degrees yesterday and for the first time it stayed warm into the evening. In case you are wondering, my 'gusti' were coffee, hazelnut and  cream of the angels.