The Feste

In Lanciano, the annual harvest festival known as Feste dominates the life of the townspeople. During the week leading up to this event, there is a harvest parade known as the Il Duono where bountiful farm produce is literally paraded through the town. A good portion of it is auctioned off that evening with the proceeds being donated to local charities.

But the celebrations really kick in during the week of Feste. And they start early in the morning, in fact at 4:00 a.m. on the Tuesday morning! We were warned about this and advised that there would be fireworks going off at that time marking the end of summer and the beginning of the harvest season.

We all like fireworks, right?

Now imagine, our night after a long day of work. We went for a stroll with our dog, Toby in the evening and took a passing interest in the crews setting up lights and sound for the concert scheduled to start later that evening in the main piazza that our apartment overlooks. So far, so good, right? The concert started at 11:30 p.m. (In Italy, the 24 hour clock is used which lulls one into thinking that somehow 23:30 is not late. After all, there is no ‘pm’ indicator to suggest that this might be starting a little late to allow for a good night’s sleep. But I digress.) As with most concerts, it was enjoyable but loud and difficult to sleep through, try as we might. The concert ended after 2:00 a.m. and we drifted off to sleep even though we knew that fireworks were to be ignited a mere two hours later. We never made it that far. At 3:00 a.m., we were awakened by a blast of cannon fire. This is the cannon in the clock tower that borders the piazza that is fired at noon everyday to alert the farmers that it is lunch time. (No need for lunch break whistles here!) So we drifted off again at “T minus 50 minutes” before the fireworks.       

We North Americans are used to fireworks displays that are colourful and which make whizzing and hissing sounds with the odd one making a relatively loud bang. Those are not the characteristics of Italian fireworks displays.  

You know those WW2 movies that show the night bombardment of towns? That is what it was like. Sudden flashes of light lit up the houses and buildings. The night sky was punctuated by daylight flashes. The explosions ripped through the air and echoed in the distant hills. The air compressed with each explosion rattling the windows. This extravaganza lasted for a half hour. By 4:30, we thought that we could have a few hours of blessed sleep before the sun broke over the eastern horizon. How naive we were.

No one told us about the marching band!

How on earth could we have known that a marching band would start up and march up and down the street for the next hour or so? By that time, sleep was impossible and we were looking for strong coffee...lots of strong, strong coffee.

    

No wonder the townsfolk have a siesta in the afternoon. 

The main corso or street is specially decorated for these nights with a gorgeous display of colourful lights that turn the night into mid-day. Crews spend two full days erecting the platforms and testing the lights to ensure that the town looks just right for the multitude of visitors that make Lanciano the object of this harvest pilgrimage. 

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings usher in a spectacle of communal open air dining. In the main piazza and in a large parking area adjacent to the market, dozens of bench picnic tables are set up in anticipation of the feast that awaits the festival goers. There is a tradition of eating porchetta and celery at this time of the year. (Don’t ask why, it’s tradition.) People reserve tables for their families and guests and a night of boisterous feasting is enjoyed by all. The simplicity of the menu belies the bounty of celery and pork available each night. The porchetta is sliced from large spit-roasted pigs that have been cooking for at least eight hours. The celery is extraordinarily larger by North American standards and much sweeter. It makes for a wonderfully filling meal, all for 5 euros. Sitting on those benches, surrounded by family, neighbours and friends, one can’t help but be struck by the joy that Italians have in each other and indeed in the simple pleasures of life itself.

Faces of the Feste

                        Before and After

Thursday morning was a special day at CCI as it was Mrs. D’Alessandro’s birthday. We started the day with a reception and a birthday cake.

On Thursday evening, the last night of the Feste and in advance of most of the feasting, the Madonna, the patron saint of Lanciano is taken out of the Basilica and carried by the townsfolk up the corso in a solemn but celebratory parade - a clear expression of the centrality of faith in their community.

 

As expected, the four days of festivities ends with fireworks...this time starting mercifully at 12:30 a.m.   

Starting early on Friday, crews start to dismantle the light platforms, stack up the tables, and take down the signs showing the schedules all of which somehow signals a change in the seasons from summer to fall.