Quite possibly the highlight of the events / festa calendar in Puglia, Easter is a time for celebrations, with many spectacular festas held across the region. The Processione dei Misteri takes place on Good Friday in many towns including Francavilla Fontana, Gallipoli, Lecce and Taranto. Our home town of Torchiarolo celebrates Easter with three days or processions, sagra, markets, fireworks and live music, culminating on Easter Monday, its patron saint day, with the procession of the Madonna and the switching on of the most amazing light display.
Elsewhere, Easter Monday in Calimera is an example of how the Salento is the land of the Religous and the Profane, a mix of faith, devotion and local traditions. Celebrations, music playing and dancing go on near the chiesetta di San Vito, close to the entrance to the old Calimera wood. Inside the church you will see a big limestone block with a hole in the centre. It looks like it has grown there and is part of the ground rather than having been physically placed there. According to a well known old Calimera ritual for fertility and health, you must kneel down and put your whole body through the rock. The space you pass through is actually quite narrow. However, tradition says that, surprisingly, anyone can get through the hole if they have faith. In ancient times this ritual was a way to push away negative energy and begin a new life, hoping to achieve fertility and strength.
Caravigno - First Tuesday after Easter, La Nzegna and La Festa della Madonna di Belvedere.
In Gallipoli throughout the entiere Easter period, starting on Easter Thursday, Gallipoli celebrates the Settimana Santa. The traditions are carried out mainly by religous groups and the atmosphere is solemn and even mystical. Starting on the evening of Easter Thursday, members of religous groups, in pairs and wearing white hoods and coloured cloaks, visit the church burial grounds. On Good Friday, during the evening there is a procession of religious congregations, carrying statues that continues until dawn. On Easter Saturday there is another procession along the sea walls, starting from the Chiesa della Puritá. The statue of the Madonna is carried around the old town and then the procession stops on the sea walls again so that the sea and it's people can be blessed.
