Pasqua in Puglia 2023

Cisternino, Puglia, Italy. Monday 10-April-2023.

Here in Cisternino we get two Easter parades for the price of one. Good Friday we get the Procession of the Mysteries.

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Easter Monday we get our very own Procession of Madonna d'Ibernia from the town centre to the Santuario della Madonna d'Ibernia. According to the town website (and Google translate) the sanctuary is "Outside the town, in the Lamacesare district, is the Sanctuary of the Madonna d'Ibernia (or de Bernis), whose veneration is linked to fertility and abundance, deriving from the cult of the goddess Cybele. In relation to this, on Easter Monday a sweet is brought to the Madonna as a gift which, according to tradition, was offered to Cybele to ensure abundance."

A statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is carried from Chiesa di Cristo - Chiesa Nuova at one end of Corso Umberto I, turns the corner at San Cataldo, along the rest of Corso Umberto I, right under our windows, and then down the hill to the Santuario della Madonna d'Ibernia 2km out of town. In the evening she makes the return journey with fireworks. 

San Cataldo.

The Blessed Virgin Mary.

Followed by the Orchestra di Fiati "Vitino Zizzi".

At the end of our street the procession turns another corner...

...and off down the hill to the sanctuary.

There was a spectacular firework display some of which we could see from our apartment over the rooftops.

The Blessed Virgin Mary returned later that evening. We were dining in Il Cucco when I spotted her return and dashed out into the street almost too late.

So a bit of a local custom.