Annesitaly - January Festivals

January Festivals (Join the Locals!)

Special feast days highlight January here in Umbria, making it a wonderful time to visit. Mediterranean winter: clear, crisp days in the 30's and 40's, hilltown gems empty of tourists, lower prices and the opportunity to share in le feste with the locals. I have planning special feast day tours, to include two feast days celebrated with fervor by the Umbrians. On January 17 and 18 we'll take in the events of the feast of St. Anthony Abbot here in Assisi (and the neighboring Santa Maria degli Angeli) and on January 29th will join the rest of Perugia in the celebration of their Festa di San Costanzo (Feast of St. Costanzo, patron saint).

The Feast of St. Anthony Abbot, (Assisi), January 17

St. Anthony Abbot, much venerated throughout Italy, is a hermit-saint who died in the deserts of Egypt on January 17th in the fourth century (not to be confused with St. Anthony of Padua, a Franciscan saint of the thirteenth century). Legend has it that during his periods of prayer and fasting in the desert, his only companions were the animals. Occasionally, the local people brought him bread. An integral part of St. Anthony's feast day, even today, is the blessing of the animals followed by the receiving of the pane benedetto ("blessed bread"). Like most feast days in Italy, the Feast of St. Anthony is intertwined with the ancient Roman world. The long period between the winter solstice and summer equinox was replete with festivities and rites of purification, of the animals, the fields, the people - propitious offerings for fertility and regeneration of the cosmos. Today, under the veil of religious feast days, local customs are tied to those ancient rites of fecundity and regeneration. The blessing of domestic animals on the Feast of St. Anthony was considered auspicious, keeping away evil forces from the home and land, bringing fertility, fecundity.

A classic element of the lives of most hermit saints is the continual struggle against tempting and tormenting demons during their periods of isolation. So too in the life of St. Anthony, although he turned the tables! A Sardinian legend has it that during his life there was no fire in the world and the people appealed to St. Anthony, who went to knock on Hell's gate, accompanied by his little piglet (the hermit's only companion). The terrified devils - who knew of his powers and considered him invincible - refused to open the door. The piglet, however, squeezed in through a slit and frolicked about the devils' abode, tormenting them. Their only solution was to beseech St. Anthony to come into Hell to get the pig! As the Saint and the joyful piglet returned to earth, the Saint's walking stick caught fire and so warmth was brought to earth. St Anthony's iconographic symbols in art are the walking stick and the piglet and he is the bearer of fire, that is life.

In fact, the night before his feast, in rural areas, it is still customary to light huge bonfires. The ashes from these bonfires were once considered amulets. Since time immemorial, fire has represented purification, and in this case, the burning of the old year, including all its evils and maladies. In popular culture, St. Anthony is the dominator of fire and the healer of shingles, also known as "St. Anthony's fire". In the middle ages, the lard of a pig was used as a salve for shingles, perhaps accounting for the association of St. Anthony with this illness.

For Italians, St. Anthony is the protector of animals, and on January 17 (or the closest Sunday to that date), in towns which venerate St. Anthony, animals of all sorts are brought to the entrance of a church to receive a blessing. Until a few years ago, farmers were given an image of St. Anthony to hang on their stalls. And even today, all oxen stalls in Umbria are guarded by this saint. When we moved to our farmhouse in 1975, it had been abandoned for 10 years, but St. Anthony was still there, on the wall under cobwebs and a dusty patina.

After the blessing, the people and their animals receive the pane benedetto. Here in Assisi, a statue of St. Anthony is located in front of the little Assisi church where all animals are brought for the afternoon blessing. At the foot of the statue is a basket of red bows for each of the larger animals (the bow was too big for the turtle that a little girl brought this year). Our terranova Sheba (who has lived all her life in the countryside, far from the action of town life) was so excited by the event, leaping and lunging in all directions, that the red bow on her collar was lost. She enjoyed the bread, though.

Just below Assisi, in Santa Maria degli Angeli, the guild of St. Anthony (Compagnia di Sant'Antonio) was formed at the time of the construction of the seventeenth century Basilica, which is built over the site where St. Francis of Assisi died. The guild's self-imposed obligations were the construction of a chapel in the Basilica dedicated to St. Anthony and the offering of a meal to all the poor of the town on his feast day. In 1860, the stagecoach horses which carried people from Rome to Florence (with a change in Santa Maria) began to die mysteriously. The people turned to St. Anthony offering a meal to the poor in his name "Piatto di Sant'Antonio" and the epidemic stopped immediately. The stagecoaches continued their route (until the trains came through in the late 1800's) but the dish of St. Anthony remains a tradition. The poor are fed in his name every year on his Feast.

About twenty years ago, the Associazione Priori del Piatto di Sant'Antonio was formed. Twelve men are chosen annually to serve St. Anthony's food. The festivities open with a procession which leaves the Basilica di S. Maria degli Angeli after a Mass of investiture of the Priori. Following the clerics, the Priori in their green capes carry the Statue of St. Anthony on their shoulders as the procession serpentines through the streets. 19th century carrozze (horse-drawn coaches) in the procession delight the children. The procession swells as the people join in and it concludes back at the Basilica where the animals are blessed and bread is distributed. Afterwards, the people flock to one of five restaurants in the town for the piatto (always the same dish): rigatoni pasta with a meat sauce, four sausages, two slices of veal, an apple and an orange, all loaded on one plate. This abundance is in memory of the propitious dish distributed in the past to the poor in thanks for the miraculous cessation of the epidemic. Though nowadays it's best to book your favorite restaurant well in advance. In the past fifteen years, the tradition has changed and grown. For a week preceding the feast day, delicious food is served nightly in a chosen hotel, with dancing on weekend nights, and is widely-attended by the locals, providing a wonderful opportunity to see some local color and to join in the festivities.

Festa di San Costanzo (Feast of St. Costanzo - Perugia), January 29

San Costanzo, martyred in the third century and one of three patron saints of Perugia, was buried (according to legend) outside the walls of Roman Perugia, today an area inside the medieval walls, near the church of San Pietro. The feast of San Costanzo, on January 29, is celebrated in Perugia with a special mass in the Cathedral (always an integral part of a town's celebration) and the Fiera of San Costanzo. The fiera (or large open market) is also integral to celebrating the feast day (see October 5th - Assisi). Perhaps because at one time (until the early 1970's) much of the Italian population lived on the land with only rare visits to town, on foot or by mule. Most were subsistence-level farmers or sharecroppers working for landowners, with very little cash on hand in the home. A saint's feast day was a special event, a time to wear one's best clothes (meticulously clean, if not elegant) and go into town for mass. It was a time to see others, to socialize in the main piazza, and perhaps - in honor of such a special day - to spend a few precious lire. One booth would always have (and every market still has many of these booths) dried fruits, semenze (pumpkin and sunflower seeds to munch on) and nougat - special treats for all. The market fills Borgo XX Giugno, the area near the legendary burial site of San Costanzo.

For this feast too, a special bread is a highlight, il torcollo di San Costanzo, a ring-like cake made with pine nuts, raisins, and candied fruits. A city document, from 1595, even defines the required ingredients. An incision of a pentagon is made on the bread to represent the five city gates of Perugia. For the past few years, the city of Perugia has celebrated this feast with a competition among all the area's bakers for the production of the best bread. In the morning, all the citizens are invited to join in a "comparative tasting". This year, 31 bakers produced 310 torcolli, which disappeared in minutes! The bread was once eaten only on the feast of San Costanzo and made only in the home, but today every Perugino has his favorite baker and the bread is available throughout the year. Another tradition, lost until a few decades ago, is for an engaged couple to visit the Church of San Costanzo and stare at the Saint's image. If the Saint winks, the couple will be married within the year. If not... be prepared for a wait!

January FESTAtours centered on St. Anthony and St. Costanzo feast days, with an insider's participation in all the festivies.

Please ask for further details.