But in brief, Saint Rose is the patron saint of Viterbo. The official holiday is on September 4, but the festivities commence on the first...and preparations long before! The idea is that, in honor of their saint, 100 men, called facchini, carry an enormous statue through the historic streets of Viterbo for the town to see. When they reach Piazza del Teatro (really named Piazza Verdi) -- where we live -- they rotate in full circle, for all to admire, and then run up the Via Santa Rosa (the street leading to the church, which is a bit steep) in order to return her to her resting space. In order to help make it up the hill, they also use men with ropes.
While the tower-like base changes design every five years or so, the tradition of carrying la macchina has been going on for over 750 years. It is 30 meters tall and weighs approximately five tons.
We arrived in Viterbo on August 20. This was the view from our terrazza.
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| Via Santa Rosa is on the right, between orange building and scaffolding |
A few days later, we started seeing stadium seating being installed.
On the Friday before, as we were walking through Porta Romana in order to visit Max's school, we actually got a peek of the statue, usually shrouded by scaffolding and tarps.
On Sunday, we saw the "kick-off" with the Mini-Macchina, a smaller version of the statue carried through the streets by young boys aspiring to one day be facchini.
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| Procession of the young facchini |
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| carrying the mini-Macchina |
On Monday was the Corteo Storico, a more religious procession with people in costume from the past eight centuries. Roads in historic Viterbo were closed to traffic starting at 5:00.
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| Rose heart added to the portrait of Santa Rosa |
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| Flags waving from most windows |
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(our terrace above) large screens set up and people start putting down tarps, staking their claim to a prime seat, early in the morning.jpg) Families from SYA and the neighborhood joined us on the terrace to watch |
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| By 8 pm, unbelievable crowds, as far as the eye could see, on every single road leading to the Piazza |
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| 9:00 pm: The Facchini march up the Corso, on their way from the church to the Porta Romana in order to get the Macchina |
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| Police clear the Piazza, leaving room for the final stop of the Macchina: Piazza del Teatro |
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| 11:30 pm: all the lights in the area go out and we are rewarded with the incredible sight of the Macchina all lit up |
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| Confetti explodes from the Macchina, kids dart around grasping at the paper as it floats down |
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| Max and Savannah, who patiently waited ALL day, look on in awe |
VIDEO - La Macchina leaves Piazza Verdi, heading up Via Santa Rosa
Needless to say, we were all exhausted. We had been up late for several nights, had stood on the terrace for HOURS, and were eager to get some rest. But all night you could hear crews breaking down all that had been installed for the holiday, and then hundreds of "RV markets" (for lack of a better term) lining the streets and setting up their tents and tables.
When we awoke at 9:00 the next morning, and looked out the terrace, we saw a see of vendors, packed with people. There wasn't a thing you couldn't find. In fact, the less you needed it, the more likely it was there. Some of the folks sold clothes and shoes and bags, others sold knives and kitchen utensils, others sheets and cleaning products. There was even a vendor selling shutters. Food trucks were everywhere: porchetta and pizza being the two most common. And this was ALL over the city. From turtles to tools, they had it all.
When we went to bed around 10 that night, we couldn't believe how much activity was still on the streets. Were they really going to pack up tonight? Could this festival continue blocking up the roads of Viterbo for yet another day? We weren't sure.
But sure enough, we woke up on Thursday and everything was gone, except for some trash and remaining stadium seats. The vendors had packed up and vanished during the night. Our Piazza was empty again!
Santa Rosa was over.
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