The Festival of the Lamps begins, the ancient village of Somma Vesuviana with 4 thousand lit lamps
The Ancient Village with 4000 lit oil lamps, on platforms of various geometric shapes, but also mirrors, pumpkins, still life scenes and live scenes!
Thursday August 4th at 20pm the lighting of the Lucerna, then at 21pm the lighting of the alleys, which will be 15 in total, with 10 lamps.
We will start with a path reserved for people with disabilities.
Alleys transformed into real Dante circles, the soft light of the lamps in the heart of the night, the agricultural products and the faces of history in the courtyards. Then on the 5th the Madonna della Neve, the women in the dark will sing the Hymn!
“The Angelo Calabrese Ethnohistoric Academy, the Casa delle Lucerne, the Aurelio Rigoli Foundation, as part of the 2022 Lucerne Festival, scheduled at Borgo Casamale in Somma Vesuviana (Na), August 4-5.6, will exhibit unpublished photos from war zones. The title of the exhibition is: “THE FORGOTTEN WARS BEYOND UKRAINE”.
The project idea of the photographic exhibition, proposes a series of images of the current war in Ukraine and of the wars still ongoing but forgotten. They are unpublished images.
The lantern, the main expression of the celebration, symbol of light, of warmth, in our proposal, urges us citizens and leaders of nations to practice the Culture of Peace on every occasion. A cage with symbols of peace inside is provocatively inserted in the exhibition". This was stated by Biagio Esposito, President of the Academy of Ethnohistorical Traditions.
Everything is ready for the beginning of one of the most beautiful Italian popular traditions: the Festa delle Lucerne.
There will be 4000 lamps lit and 10 alleys dressed up for the party such as: vicolo Coppola, Malacciso, Puntuale, Cuonzolo, Torre, Zoppo, Giudecca, Piccioli, Lentini, Perzechiello. The lamps will be placed on installations arranged along the entire length of the streets and of various geometric shapes. There will be four access gates to the village with local artists who will be involved in the installation with the citizens: Porta Piccioli, Porta Castello.
The alleys will become Dante's circles, the silhouettes of the visitors souls reflected on the ancient walls.
The Festa delle Lucerne is a ritual that has been repeated for centuries, every 4 years, only in Somma Vesuviana, in the Naples area. A popular tradition that wants to testify the passage from earthly life to eternal life. Thousands of lamps are lit, the first lighting is up to the oldest person in the alley, but also dead scenes or live scenes at the entrance of the alleys, pumpkins and at the same time a triumph of the agricultural products of the area.
“Everything is really ready. Today, in a few hours, we will begin setting up the alleys – said Mario Maiello, President of the “Festa delle Lucerne” Association – then tomorrow, August 4th, at 20 pm the lighting of the first lamp, by the authorities. At 21 pm the lighting of all the lamps in the 15 alleys of the Borgo, by the oldest person in the alley. On August 10th, at 5 pm, the Madonna will be standing on the parvis of the oldest church: the Collegiata. At that point you will hear coming from the roofs, the singing of a group of women. On August 20th the show of the Lucerne in the heart of the night”.
And the Lucerne House will open.
“In the Casa della Lucerna it will be possible to see the laboratory activity – declared Arcangelo Rianna, historian of the Festival of the Lamps – but also the oil lamps from 70 years ago”.
The 2022 edition of the Somma Vesuviana Lantern Festival has been included in the territorial enhancement project entitled “Itineraries in the traditions of Monte Somma – Lantern Festival 2022”, promoted by the Municipality of Somma Vesuviana, in partnership with the municipalities of Scisciano, Castello di Cisterna, Saviano and San Vitaliano.
The initiative is co-financed by the POC Campania 2014-2020 – Urban Regeneration, tourism and culture policies. A unitary program of cultural, naturalistic and food and wine tourist itineraries of national and international scope.
This is one of the most exciting and spectacular traditions in Italy. The alleys of the Borgo Antico del Casamale, with its thousand-year history, the 4 – 5 – 6 August will be illuminated exclusively by thousands of lit lamps positioned on geometric platforms of various types. At the entrance to some alleys it will be possible to admire the dead scenes, with puppets sewn and embroidered by the population of the Borgo or alive and therefore with people gathered around tables set aside and full of the various agricultural products of the territory. At the end of the alleys, a set of mirrors will fuel the play of light reflections.
The Feast of the Lamps narrates, describes, the passage from earthly life to eternal life. The silhouettes of living people, even those who participate and assist, thanks to the lamps that must never go out, will become shadows right on the ancient Wall.
And there is a boom in tourists for the Festival of the Lamps in Somma Vesuviana with the accommodation facilities that are registering full houses! The international press is also accredited to the Press Tour scheduled for August 5th and 6th
In the next few hours the transformation of the Borgo with the setting up of the Historic Center, in which the entire population will participate. On August 4th the arrangement of embroidered puppets but also of sweets prepared for the occasion and which will be part of the scenes.
The alleys become DANTESQUE RINGS. The light of the Lucerne will be even sweeter in the heart of the night.
“On August 4 – 5 – 6, the entire Medieval Village of Somma Vesuviana will turn off the lights to be illuminated by hundreds, thousands of oil lamps. Lamps made of ceramic and positioned on platforms of various shapes. In one alley it will be possible to admire the quadrangular perspective, in another, the rectangular perspective, in yet another the circular perspective, in yet another a rhombus.
In every alley hundreds and hundreds of small lamps with a play of lights powered by mirrors. At the beginning of the alleys dead scenes or living scenes – said Salvatore Di Sarno, mayor of Somma Vesuviana, in the Naples area – because the Festival of the Lamps narrates the passage from death to eternal life. Here the alleys are transformed into Dante's circles in which the silhouettes of the visitors themselves become shadows reflected on the ancient thousand-year-old walls.
On the evening of August 4th, the first lamps will be lit and only women will be able to feed the lamp with a special oil at nightfall. There is the whole relationship between man and territory, in this truly millenary celebration with which the ancient culture thanks the Madonna della Neve for the well-being it has had with the hope that it can continue over time”.
On August 5th, the Madonna will be on the churchyard of the oldest church. The women in the dark will not be seen, but will be heard with the intonation of the Hymn to the “Madonna della Neve”.
“On the evening of August 5, the Madonna della Neve will come out of the Collegiata, the oldest of the churches with a gold-plated vault and works by Pacecco De Rosa (others are in Spain). The Madonna will stop in the churchyard and at that point the women, in the dark, will sing the Hymn to the Madonna della Neve from a balcony in a sustained voice. Once the song is over, the Madonna will pass by the lit lamps. It is truly a living, powerful emotion. We are in the presence of a highly spectacular festival for its setting. In the space of a few hours, we will witness the profound transformation of everything, absolutely everything, of the Borgo del Casamale. An entire population that participates in various ways: from embroidery to sewing puppets – concluded Salvatore Di Sarno, mayor of Somma Vesuviana, in the Naples area – and even the sweets will be real, prepared in the nineteenth-century courtyards of the Borgo to be placed almost in devotion at the entrance to the alleys”.
A village full of wonders including murals, a great cultural heritage and ancient walls dating back to the Spanish domination. The Festival of the Lucerne is also the triumph of a great play of lights.
The Press Tour includes for the press: train, transfer from Naples to Somma Vesuviana and vice versa, food, accommodation in excellent facilities.
Arrival on August 5th – briefing with historians and scholars of the Festival (unique in the world, a similar event takes place in Peru). Visit to the Borgo in preparation, the possibility of admiring and tasting the typical products of Somma Vesuviana such as: apricot, piennolo tomato, catalanesca. Products that are also protagonists of the Festival.
On August 5th evening, privileged entry into the alleys to photograph, film the lamps in all their forms, listen, see everything, interview the historical figures who will be able to tell decades and decades of the Festival of the Lamps, visits in the company of anthropologists and historians. Dinner at the typical trattorias of the village, in the heart of the Festival of the Lamps!
Visit the oldest of the churches: the Collegiate Church with its gold-plated vault and 600th century works!
The Madonna della Neve will come out of the church, you will hear the women singing in the dark.
Thousands of lamps will be lit with oil and arranged on wooden structures that have a geometric shape typical for each alley: circles, squares, rhombuses, triangles. An evocative path, through the passage of time illuminated by hundreds of small flames, a time pervaded and nourished by magic and enchantment.
Metaphorical places and temporal passages in a dense dialogue between reality, dream and magic. Scenes of peasant life, tables laden with puppets and real people celebrate the Madonna della Neve. Refreshment points, artisan workshops and art spaces welcome visitors during the three days of celebration.
Among the most evocative Vesuvian traditions. An ancient propitiatory agricultural rite, representation of the cycles of nature and the inevitable passage from life to death.
Article published on 4 August 2022 - 12:10
